Baby on the way
by Cadnobach
Summary: * Complete * Season 1 story. The crew learn that eves dropping is never a good idea. Please read + review. :o) Chapter 14 - Is there a happy ending for Lucas? You'll have to read it to find out ;o)
1. Chapter 1

I do not own any of the characters in this story, they belong to the Sci-Fi Channel, and several other companies, and I'm just borrowing them for a while, and promise to return them when I'm done so that someone else can use them. No infringement of copyright is intended.  
  
Baby on the way.  
  
Chapter 1.  
  
Katie Hitchcock sat in the empty mess hall eating re-hydrated rations, complete with their usual cardboard texture. She looked at her distorted reflection in the side of her mug of chocolate, at the faint bags under her eyes, and felt ready to sleep for a week.  
  
"Excuse me, Commander, do you mind if I sit with you for a moment?"  
  
Katie managed a warm smile for the young Lieutenant, and motioned for her to sit down. Lieutenant Mary Anne Lewis sat down quickly and stared silently into her own mug of chocolate. Katie had seen her around in engineering and spoken to her a few times on the bridge, but had never really paid that much attention to the young woman.  
  
Mary wasn't much more than twenty years old and Hitchcock couldn't remember seeing the Lieutenant without a smile on her face, but now she looked terrified.  
  
"Is there something you want to talk about?" Katie questioned gently, pushing her own exhaustion to the back of her mind.  
  
"I'm sorry to bother you but I really need some advice and I didn't know who else to ask..." The words all came out in one long stream before Lieutenant Lewis took a long shaky breath.  
  
"If," she continued, "Just supposing if you just found something out... and it was really important... and you were really sure... and it wasn't exactly planned... but you were really happy... but you didn't know if he would be... and you knew it was something you had to report... would you report it first... or is it best to tell him... I mean he has a right to know, but... Do you think I'm a coward?"  
  
"Why don't you try again, and fill in a few of the gaps?" Katie wanted to be kind, but really didn't have enough energy to play guessing games.  
  
Lieutenant Lewis took a deep breath and looked around the mess. She knew she had to be quick because it was already starting to fill up with the crew on their first duty break.  
  
She though for a minute and then said "Supposing you and... Lieutenant..." Katie could see her searching for a random name "Krieg... did something truly stupid... and as a result of this... thing you did... you had to tell him something really important... something life changing. How do you think that should be done? Do you just blurt it out, or would you report it to the medical officer first, or what?"  
  
Katie nodded distractedly at a couple of the bridge crew when they walked past and felt all the dots join together in her head.  
  
"Assuming... just assuming of course... that I have something important to tell Lieutenant... Krieg... I think I need to be really sure that I know my own feelings on the subject before I talk to him about it." She waited for the Lieutenant to nod before continuing. "I have to think about how it effects my life, and my career. And then after I've made some decisions, when I go to tell him that I'm pregnant, I have to be ready take into account that he may not want to, or be ready to be a father." Again Lieutenant Lewis nodded.  
  
"And I don't think I should just blurt it out at the first opportunity, this type of news needs to be broached gradually and gently over a period of time. And since it isn't compulsory to report pregnancy as a medical condition before three months I will defiantly wait until I talk to... Krieg before I tell anyone else."  
  
Lieutenant Lewis watched as the crew returned to the bridge from their brake, and after thinking for a few moments said "Thank you Commander, I think I feel a lot better after discussing it with you. You won't tell anyone about me and... I mean you and Lieutenant Morri... I mean Krieg." By the time she finished her face was bright red and she was biting her lip.  
  
"You're secret is perfectly safe with me." Katie smiled to herself as she watched the other woman walking away from the table and out of the mess hall. Sitting back in her chair she began to sip her luke warm hot chocolate and whether it was Lieutenant Morrison, or Lieutenant Morris who was due to get some unsuspected news in the next few weeks.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Out side the mess hall Lieutenant J.G. Tim O'Neil leaned against the wall and watched as his friend Miguel Ortiz tried to remember how to close his jaw. He couldn't believe what he had overheard.  
  
"I can't believe Katie's pregnant." Said the Cuban Sensor Chief.  
  
"I can't believe Ben didn't tell us he's going to be a Dad." Replied O'Neil.  
  
"You think he knows?"  
  
"He must know. I thought I heard Katie say she'd told him."  
  
"I don't know, they were talking pretty quietly, we didn't hear the whole story." admitted Miguel.  
  
"I know one thing though, Ford's going to skin us alive if we're late back to our shift!" Tim was covering the ground at a respectable turn of speed by the end of the sentence.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Between the two of them they finally decided that only one other person on the boat would know if Krieg new. They had talked quietly between their two stations on the bridge until O'Neil came up with the obvious solution.  
  
If anyone would know then it would be his best friend. That's why, at 0500 hours they were standing outside the door to "Mammal Engineering" each trying to convince the other to knock on the door. Lucas Wolenczak was not known for being a morning person and each would expect extra pay for hazardous duty if they had to try and wake him up before he was ready. Then again neither of them was inclined to wait either.  
  
Finally the decision came down to "Scissors, Paper, Stone" it was the way most arguments were settled between the two friends.  
  
O'Neil lost; somehow he always did, although he had no idea why.  
  
He knocked gently on the door, but got no reply. Miguel Ortiz stepped around him and knocked rather more loudly before stepping once more behind Ortiz. He got a distinctly displeased look for his trouble. The door opened to reveal a very disgruntled looking teenager.  
  
"Which one was it?" Lucas asked. "I am perfectly capable of working on my own for two minutes, without one of them sending some one to check up on me." he looked from O'Neill to Ortiz and back again before continuing "I told the captain, that I would get some rest as soon as I finished at the programme I'm working on, and I meant it. In half-an-hour, the whole programme will be ready, and then I will get a good night's sleep like a good little boy." he concluded his voice dripping sarcasm.  
  
"Lucas, no one sent us to talk to you!" said Tim O'Neill.  
  
"Yes, and it's a bit late to be getting a good night's sleep now, it's 5 o'clock in the morning." Miguel added. It was obvious to both of the officers that the Sea Quests resident computer programmer I had yet to make it to his bed. They knew was that he must have been wrestling with it particularly difficult programme, both could see the mixture of exhaustion and excitement in his eyes, and it was obvious that he was oblivious to the time.  
  
"So why are you waking up at this time in the morning?" Lucas asked them ignoring the fact that he had obviously been awake.  
  
"We need to talk to you about Ben," said Tim.  
  
"Whatever it was, would ever he did, I was in no way involved." said Lucas defensively.  
  
"If you let us in, we'll tell you all about it. It's not something we can discuss out here in the corridor." Miguel told him.  
  
When they had all made their way into Mammal Engineering, and cleared enough space for the three of them to sit down, they started to tell Lucas what they had over heard in the mess hall...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"I don't know how to put a this, but are you sure that Ben is the father, because I'm certain Ben knows nothing about this. And anyway they've been divorced a lot longer than nine months. It's not even as if they get on very well together. They are at each other's throats most of the time."  
  
"Maybe they got back together." said Tim unsurely.  
  
"We could just ask Ben." said Miguel, "he should at least know if it's a possibility. And he'll be in the mess for breakfast soon."  
  
"Right Miguel, that's exactly where we should tell Ben, in front of the whole crew. Very subtle."  
  
"OK then, you are the genius, you can ask Ben, subtly of course."  
  
Lucas thought about this for a moment. He was 16 years old, how was he supposed to tell his best friend, the bigger brother he'd never had, something like this. Somehow he knew that even he could write any soft ware to help with this problem.  
  
"No. I think this is a case for a people person, Miguel. If it was a computer problem, I'd be more than happy to help... But people ... not my speciality at all." the teenager new he wasn't going to win this argument, but he was not the type to give up without a fight.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ben,  
  
Katie's pregnant,  
  
Congratulations!  
  
DON'T TELL HER YOU KNOW.  
  
SPEAK TO US FIRST.  
  
Lucas, Tim + Miguel.  
  
Lucas looked at the computer screen, and wondered once again, just how he'd managed to convince Tim and Miguel that this was the best way tell Ben. They still looked somewhat sceptical, but since neither of them wanted to break the news in person, they couldn't blame Lucas for sending it by e- mail.  
  
Lucas pressed the send button, and sat back in his chair to wait. He know Ben's morning timetable by heart, he'd spent almost three weeks studying it in preparation for the first in a series of practical jokes he had devised as payback for the mess Ben had landed him in on April Fool's Day.  
  
30 seconds later Lucas glanced at his watch, turned around his chair, to face the door, and said "Five... Four... Three... Two... One... Now."  
  
Ben burst through the door, his hair was uncombed, he was still wearing his pyjamas, and his normally amiable face was a mask of terror.  
  
"I'm going to be a Daddy!!!" He then promptly passed out on to the collection of clothes, books and discarded computer components that carpeted the floor with out even bothering to close the door behind him.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
This story should get better as it goes along, please don't be put off by the start. I intend to update regularly, and would appreciate any comments etc. which readers are inclined to make. 


	2. Chapter 2

I do not own Sea Quest. I am not making any profit in the writing of this story. No breach of copyright is intended. Thank you to ItsyBitsy25, Faith Childrey and Diena Taylor for reviewing the last chapter.  
  
This story is not beta read, I've corrected all the mistakes I've found, sorry for any that are still left.  
  
Chapter two.  
  
"Tim, stop panicking, and close the door! I think Lucas's junk broke his fall anyway."  
  
Lucas gave Miguel an evil look before kneeling down and shaking Ben back in to conciseness. "Ben, wake up buddy." Ben groaned and slowly sat up.  
  
"What happened, why am I sleeping on..." he looked down at the floor, "what am I sleeping on?"  
  
"Junk" said Miguel.  
  
"Some of the most advanced computer technology the UEO has to offer." Corrected Lucas. Not that the bits that ended up on the floor had worked properly, he was a lot more careful with the successful equipment. The things that didn't work to his standard ended up filed on the floor, until he got around to re-designing or improving them.  
  
Tim watched Ben face while the other two argued good-naturedly between themselves. First he saw confusion, then realization, followed by more confusion, insight and finally ending with anger.  
  
In one motion, he saw Ben jump off the floor, grab the front of Lucas's T- shirt and lift the teen off the floor before pushing him none to gently up against the wall.  
  
"Lucas" he said, his face just a few small inches away from the boys surprised expression. "No-one could ever say that I don't have a good sense of humor, and maybe I went a little bit too far on April fools day, but this was not funny. You almost gave me a heart attack! There are some things a man really should not joke about, and this is defiantly one of them."  
  
Tim and Miguel approached slowly, one from each side. "Ben, why don't you let go of Lucas." Cajoled Miguel in that special voice usually reserved for people who are standing on high ledges or holding loaded weapons. "That's right, put him down."  
  
Ben looked from the Lieutenant to the Chief and back again. "It's not funny is it... you didn't think it was funny did you, Tim." Tim O'Neill gently led Ben over to sit on Lucas's bed while Miguel supported a very pale looking Lucas, who was absent-mindedly trying to smooth out the rumples which Ben's fist, had put into his T-shirt.  
  
Lucas tried not to think about how much Ben had reminded him of his father, Dr Wolenczak, when he lost his temper like that, but it was difficult for him to forget his past especially when some thing like this happened to remind him. But deep down Lucas new that Ben was nothing like his father. When he looked into Ben's eyes he saw a man scared almost out of his wits, in his father's eyes there was nothing, no emotion at all. Ben didn't realise what he was doing, Dr Wolenczak knew what he was doing, but didn't seem to realise that it was wrong.  
  
"Ben," said Tim, more then a little shocked by his friend's outburst of violence. "It wasn't a joke, me and Migs overheard Katie talking in the mess. We heard her say she was pregnant. Is it possible you're the father?"  
  
"I'm going to be a Daddy..." Ben's eyes glazed over.  
  
"Ben, are you saying that you and Katie are back together?" Asked Tim.  
  
"I'm going to be a Daddy..."  
  
"Ben, are you sure your the father, have you and Ka-"  
  
"Just what are you trying to imply about my wife Lieutenant?" Shouted Krieg, standing up and looming over the be-spectacled communications officer. "Of course the baby's mine, who else's would it be?"  
  
"Well," said Tim without thinking, "Her and Ford seem to be very good frien- " He tried to cut himself off when his brain caught up with what his mouth was saying, but it was too late.  
  
"I'll kill him!" Ben roared, swinging the door open, and running toward the bridge.  
  
The three remaining men looked at each other in horror, before they all tried to run after Ben Krieg at the same time. After jamming themselves in the doorway, when they all tried to exit at once, they sprinted down the corridor colliding with crewmen and science personnel and yelling apologies behind them.  
  
As they turned left down another corridor they saw Chief Shan blocking Ben's way. They were just in time to see Ben throwing a punch at the security guard. He dodged and caught the punch, twisting it behind the larger mans back with practiced ease.  
  
"Let me go! I'm gonna kill him!" Ben was shouting as Shan grabbed his handcuffs and quickly cuffed Ben's hands behind his back. Shan saw Lucas and the others standing by the corner, and guessed that what ever was going on, they were involved in it somewhere.  
  
"Does any one want to tell me what, exactly, is going on here?" Asked Shan.  
  
"We would really like to, but me and Tim just got off the night shift, we really need to be getting some sleep. Lucas will explain it all to you." Said Miguel, backing off down the corridor as he spoke. Tim gave a half apologetic smile toward Lucas, but never the less felt no inclination to stay and explain, as he followed Ortiz.  
  
Lucas watched open mouthed as his friends disserted him.  
  
"Well, Lucas?"  
  
"I think I might be a good idea if we went somewhere quieter than the corridors to talk about this." Stalled the teen.  
  
"Fine, you can come to security with us, and both of you can explain."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
When they got to the main Security Office, Lucas was just about to start explaining everything when they heard Chief Manilow Crocker making his way to his office.  
  
"Shan, you hear yet?"  
  
"Yes, Chief."  
  
"You wont believe what they've done now, Shan. Just on my way hear I've had half a dozen complaints about Krieg and Lucas running around knocking people over, one of them managed to crash into Dr Turner when he was carrying a mug of coffee and the data for some experiment he's been working on for the last six weeks. Need lees to say he's not at all happy with losing the only copy he has of the data. He's practically demanding that the navy bring back keel haling..."Crocker's voice faded away when he saw Krieg and Wolenczak sitting across the desk from Shan.  
  
Crocker shook his head sadly. He just didn't understand how a military sub had managed to get both the navies worst practical joker, and a civilian who was almost as bad. He took in the handcuffs, and Lucas's sullen expression. "What have they done this time?" he asked Shan.  
  
"As far as I can work out, Lieutenant Krieg wants to kill someone, and Lucas was chancing after him, though I don't know if he was trying to catch him to stop him, or to cheer him on." Shan said smiling at the blush rising on Lucas's fair complexion.  
  
"Ford." Snarled Krieg. "I'm going to kill Ford."  
  
"Krieg, why did you want to kill Commander Ford?" asked Crocker with what patience he could manage.  
  
"Not did, Crocker, do. As soon as you get around to taking these," he indicated over his shoulder to the cuffs, "things, off me I'm going to kill him." By the end of the sentence Ben was standing up and shouting.  
  
Crocker looked none to impressed, "Has he been drinking?" he said to Lucas, who shock his head.  
  
"I think you better start explaining yourselves." He held up a hand as Krieg opened his mouth. "No, Lucas first."  
  
"Well, Chief you see it all started when Ortiz and O'Neill overheard..." as so he explained the whole story to Crocker and Shan, hoping to get Ben out of as much trouble as possible. He left out the way Ben had thrown him against the wall; he had already forgiven his friend.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"OK Ben, what are you going to do if we let you go?" Asked Crocker after he had heard the full story.  
  
"I'm going to kill Ford." Came the quick reply.  
  
"You just had to pick today to start being honest didn't you," quipped Lucas. He had now been awake for 44 out of the last 48 hours. He was tired and was running out of patience.  
  
"OK," Chief Crocker said, thinking the UEO really didn't pay him enough to deal with thing like this. "There's only one way to sort this out." He reached for his pal, and raised the bridge. "Hello, Commander Ford, would you mind coming down to Security for a few moments... Yes, Commander, it is pretty important... Thank you, Commander, could you have the comms officer send O'Neill and Ortiz down here as well... OK Crocker out."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Right, we're all here, what's all this about." Said Ford looking around the now cramped Security office. "What have they done this time?"  
  
"What have I done? You're the one who- mphf" Lucas's hand clamped firmly over Ben's mouth muffled the rest of the sentence.  
  
"I sorry, Commander, Ben's not feeling himself at the moment." The teen explained.  
  
Commander Ford raised an eyebrow, but said nothing.  
  
Chief Crocker looked at the dark skinned Commander and wondered just how to broach the subject.  
  
"Commander, how well do you know Commander Hitchcock?" he asked.  
  
"I really don't see what business that is of yours, Chief." He replied with icy politeness and a stress on the rank.  
  
"Well, it is if your relationship causes security problems on the boat." Came the response.  
  
"I think you had better explain that a little more fully." Said Ford through clenched teeth, struggling not to show his temper. He was a very private person, and was certainly not used to being asked personal questions by a subordinate especially in front of an audience.  
  
Ford listened relatively patiently when, for what seemed to feel like the hundredth time for Lucas he went over the story, with little additions, corrections and interruptions from the others.  
  
"That baby is not mine." Ford said when every one had lapsed into silence.  
  
Krieg looked so shocked, he actually forgot to shout. "How can you disown your own kid? How can you just turn your back on Katie."?  
  
"The reason I know that the child is not mine, Lieutenant, is because Katie and I, are not now, nor have we ever been anything more than good friends." He was talking to Ben, but kept his eyes on O'Neill who had the grace to look embarrassed. His tendency to listen to rumour and gossip was his greatest weakness.  
  
"How good?" queried Lucas.  
  
"Not that good." Said Ford, a wry smile touching him lips.  
  
"So, Krieg," asked Miguel, "Are you and Katie just friends, or...?" he let the sentence trail off.  
  
"Well, we are just friends, but, well... you remember last shore leave, well... I just happened that it was the same date as our wedding anniversary... so I asked Katie out for a meal for old times sake, and one thing led to another..." he also let his sentence trail into silence.  
  
"And that was three weeks ago?" asked Shan. Ben nodded.  
  
"And I'm now going to be a Daddy."  
  
"So what do we all do now?" asked Lucas.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
To be continued...  
  
Please Review. Any comments welcome. I've only got a vague idea of what they decide to do next. If you have any suggestions they're all welcome. Either leave them in a review (hint, hint!) or feel free to e-mail / IM me. Thanks for reading. 


	3. Chapter 3

I do not own any of the characters in this story, I am making no profit in writing the story, and no breach of copyright is intended. Thank you to every one who reviewed the first two chapters. While I have checked for errors, there may be some I missed. Try to remember no one is perfect all the time.  
  
Chapter Three.  
  
"I have to talk to Katie." Said Ben.  
  
"Are you sure that's a good idea?" asked Lucas, "I mean, she must think she has a reason for not telling you."  
  
"You may find it easier in the long run if you don't try to understand how women think, Lucas." Quipped Miguel.  
  
"Do you think she wants the baby?" asked Ford.  
  
"What do you mean?"  
  
"I, Uh, mean, Katie is very focused on her career..." the Commander hedged.  
  
"She'll keep the baby." Krieg stated. When he noticed the other men's questioning looks he added. "I am married to Katie, and I do know my wife pretty well."  
  
"Which is why you got a divorce." Tim observed. Ben gave him an uncomprehending look and then jumped out of his chair.  
  
"We got a divorce!" he made for the door, only to find Ford blocking it. "Excuse me, Commander, but I have to talk to Katie. I have to propose!"  
  
"Krieg, sit down, you need to think first." Ford said. While he and Krieg didn't always get on well, the Commander had no wish to see Katie embarrassed by a fool running on to the bridge and proposing to her in his pyjamas.  
  
"We have to get married or we can't have a baby." Krieg said simply.  
  
"Ben, as a scientist, please believe me when I tell you, the baby will be born weather you are married or not." Said Lucas, turning his friend around to face him. "And you will still be the baby's father no matter what"  
  
"Yes, but only technically."  
  
"No, Ben, biologically."  
  
"We still have to get married." Ben replied firmly.  
  
"Good luck convincing Katie of that."  
  
"I convinced her before, didn't I?" Ben replied to Tim.  
  
"Yes, but Katie knows you better now, she's older, and wiser." Miguel said, with a hint of laughter in his voice.  
  
"When do you think she'll leave?" asked Shan.  
  
"Why would she leave?" Lucas wondered aloud.  
  
"Lucas, women do not have babies on UEO submarines. It's no place for a baby. In a few months Katie will have to take a leave of absence.  
  
Lucas sat down and just stared at him. He couldn't understand why it had never occurred to him that Katie would have to leave the Sea Quest. All he could think of was that his new family, the family he had always longed for was going to be split up. He had to find a way to stop it.  
  
"When?" Tim looked a Lucas and tried to figure out why the teenager had turned so pale.  
  
"In a little over two months."  
  
"But my baby is going to be three months old by then! what if we have to go into combat before then? What if something happens to my baby?"  
  
"Ben, the chances are-"  
  
"The chances, Crocker, are too high. We have to thing of a way to keep my baby safe."  
  
"Commander Ford to the Bridge, Commander Ford to the Bridge."  
  
Came an unidentified voice from the speakers, which were used to contact the crew all over the ship.  
  
"On my way," the Commander said into his pal, before turning to the rest of the men.  
  
"Nobody, is to speak of this to anyone else, understand, Commander Hitchcock is not going to be happy with us knowing, let alone the whole boat."  
  
"What about the Captain?" asked Crocker.  
  
"No one is to be told until we talk about this again. No one. Not even the Captain."  
  
Lucas felt every one looking at him, he hated the way they seemed to think that they had to explain everything to him twice, as if he were a child. If he gave his word on something he would keep it, no matter what.  
  
"If anyone has any ideas about anything helpful we can do, we can meet up again tomorrow and discuss them then. OK?"  
  
Everyone nodded, and, after they had removed Ben's handcuffs left the security office.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
A few minutes later Commander Jonathan Ford sat in the command chair of the bridge, and wondered what he had gotten him-self into.  
  
It wasn't even his problem, he reminded himself. Ben should be sorting this out on his own. But, Krieg was obviously incapable of any kind of rational thought, so guess who it will left to be sensible, and sort everything out.  
  
This would never happen on a real military sub. It was all the fault of the science crew. Ford knew it was not a brand of logic that would stand up to scrutiny, but it made him feel better so he let it slide, just this once.  
  
Now he just had to work out how to keep Krieg sane... well, as sane as anyone could expect from Krieg... and how to keep Katie safe until she decided to tell everyone. He knew that she must have a good reason for not telling anyone yet, and he intended to see that no one else found out, some one had to make sure her privacy was not forgotten.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Lucas sat in front of the computer screen and watched the numbers flash across it. When he had returned to his room, he had started up the programme he was working on with out thinking. He always found it comforting. When he was programming he was in complete control. The computer did what he told it to, and didn't throw up the same problems as people always seamed to.  
  
He wished that he could programme people some times. Why did this have to happen now? He was happy on Sea Quest, but if Katie left, then Ben would want to leave as well. If Ben left Lucas didn't know what he would do. Ben was the big brother that he had always wanted.  
  
If Ben left, who was going to get him into trouble with their next get rich quick scheme? Everyone else expected him to act like an adult, but Ben didn't. Ben acted like a little kid, and that made Lucas feel that he could do the same.  
  
Lucas thought about it all for a while, getting himself more and more depressed, until he decided that this wasn't a problem to get emotional about; it was a problem to get logical about, to get scientific about.  
  
"OK," he said to himself while switching on yet another computer and starting to type rapidly.  
  
"First I need to decide what out come I want, and then try to find a way to bring it about." He mumbled to himself. "Good Lucas, now you're being logical. What I want is every one to stay on board the boat. Fine, that was the easy part, now how to I get that to happen." He thought for a moment, before starting to both type and mutter again.  
  
"What's stopping them from staying...? Well the UEO to start with, they're hardly going to want a kid on a sub... they made enough of a fuss about me and I was 15... they only let me on because I'm a genius..." He stopped suddenly.  
  
"That's it, we have to turn the baby into a genius!" Lucas jumped up from his seat, but then his face fell. "How do you turn a kid into a genius...? I think it's time to do a bit of research..."  
  
Lucas typed away quite sure that he had found a way to keep his family in tact. All he had to do was convince the UEO that Krieg Jr. was going to be so smart they couldn't risk losing him. It was a long shot, but he had to take it, he had to know that he had tried everything; that he hadn't dismissed anything that would work.  
  
"I wonder what the chances are, of finding a site called 'How to make a genius in ten east steps'" he said to himself. "Probably not great." He added with a smile, knowing that if the information he wanted existed on any computer with an uplink to the net he would find it without too much trouble.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Several hours later Captain Nathan Hale Bridger was walking along the corridors to Mammal Engineering. Ever since the last time Lucas had got really into the project he had been working on, Bridger had made sure that the crewmen on duty in the mess hall kept half an eye on weather or not the teen was eating.  
  
The last three shifts now reported that no one had seen Lucas, and the two shifts before that only remembered the teen grabbing a couple of high sugar snacks and coffee. If he hadn't been in meetings on the vid-phone for the last few days, trying to keep the science budget from free falling, he would have checked earlier, but the fact was he hadn't been to the mess in quite a while himself.  
  
So, the Captain decided that he had better make a trip down to their resident computer genius and make sure he ate something and slept for a few hours at least, before Dr. Westphalen found out. He did not wont to be there if she found out that Lucas had fallen back into his old working habits. He knew that Kristin worried about Lucas almost as he did, and she wasn't slow to vocalise her complaints.  
  
He balanced the tray full of food carefully in one hand, and knocked smartly on the door. He waited for about half a minute before, deciding that either Lucas was so engrossed in what he was doing that he didn't even realise that he was ignoring the knock on his door, in which case he would probably need to be dragged forcibly away from the screen. Or, Lucas may have had finally succumb to exhaustion, in which case Nathan could tuck him up into bed, and leave the tray.  
  
Nathan opened the door, as he expected Lucas was staring intently at the screen. The teen didn't hear him when he came in, or when he shut the door behind him, or when he cleared space to put the tray down on a chair. Lucas did, however, notice when the Captain leaned over his shoulder and started to read from the screen.  
  
Lucas jumped a good eighteen inches into the air almost slamming the top of his head into Bridger's chin, his eyes wide with surprise above the dark circles that were now developing.  
  
"Captain, I didn't hear you come in!"  
  
"That's because you were to absorbed in-" As Bridger started to focus on the words displayed in the screen, Lucas hurriedly reached out and switched the screen blank.  
  
"Lucas," said Bridger looking exasperated, "what have I told you about hacking into confidential files. And who's files are they this time?" he asked reaching for the switch on the monitor to flick it back on.  
  
"Captain, I wasn't hacking!"  
  
"Then what were you doing, that means you need to switch the screen off when I come into the room?" Asked Bridger, holding his hand just above the switch.  
  
"I... I was doing some research." Lucas, thinking quickly, tried to come up with an answer that wasn't a lie, and wasn't betraying anyone's confidence.  
  
"For Dr. Westphalen?" Bridger asked with a perfect poker face. It was very rare that Lucas didn't have a smart Alec reply for every question, and the Captain couldn't help enjoying having the upper hand for a while.  
  
"No... Not for Dr. Westphalen... I was helping out a friend... I often help out doing research for the guys at Node 3, and people I studied with..." It's not really a lie, Lucas told himself, I do help them with research, and it's not my fault if the Captain chooses to misinterpret a random statement as something else. I'm not actually lying.  
  
"So this is for Wolf man?" Bridger still hadn't moved his hand and Lucas seamed transfixed by it.  
  
Lucas shook his head.  
  
"Biff Pickering?"  
  
Again Lucas shook his head.  
  
"Microft?"  
  
Once more Lucas shook his head, never once taking his eyes off the Captains hand.  
  
"Juliana?"  
  
Lucas blushed; he always did when some one mentioned her name. Fortunately the Captain took this to mean the research was for her and he let his hand drop. It was not until he exhaled that Lucas realised that he had been holding his breath.  
  
"Well, no matter who it's for," Captain Bridger smiled as Lucas blushed again, "You need to eat and then you need to sleep." As he spoke he started to move some of the things off Lucas's bed and, after he failed to find space anywhere else, onto the floor.  
  
"You do know that you are disrupting a very delicate filing system?" Lucas queried.  
  
Bridger raised an eyebrow, but said nothing. It was true that Lucas could find anything in a matter of moments, but no one else had ever found out how the system, if indeed there was one, worked.  
  
"Are you going to tuck me in too?" came the next sarcastic question, Lucas was not happy that the Captain had almost found out what he had been working on, and decided to show his displeasure the only way he new how, by pushing every one away.  
  
"Yes, as soon as your a good little boy and finish your supper, that's exactly what I intend to do." Bridger said calmly.  
  
"Captain! There's no need-"  
  
"Eat, now. Before I fetch Dr. Westphalen."  
  
"That's a dirty trick." Said Lucas reaching out and grabbing a sandwich off the plate.  
  
"True, but very effective none the less."  
  
Twenty minutes later Lucas was fast asleep under the watchful eye of Captain Bridger, who had taken up residence in one of the chairs in order to make sure the teen didn't simply pretend to sleep, so that he could get up and start work again when Bridger left. The Captain had been caught out like that before, and intended to learn from his mistake.  
  
When he was completely sure Lucas was settled for a few hours at least, Bridger leaned over to brush the hair off Lucas's forehead and said "Goodnight kiddo, sweet dreams." He picked up the now empty food tray and made to leave. When he got to the door, he hesitated, before retracing his steps and quietly flicking the switch on the monitor.  
  
"THE DO'S AND DON'T OF PREGNANCY. 100 ways to improve the quality of you babies life before their birth."  
  
Captain Bridger looked at the screen and back at the teenager, and come to the most logical conclusion he could think of.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Dr. Kristin Westphalen, Chief Medical Officer, and head of the scientific sections of Sea Quest looked down the microscope at the samples her team had collected that morning. Suddenly the door behind her flew open.  
  
"Nathan Hale Bridger! What on earth do you think you are doing? You almost scared me half to death!"  
  
"Kristen, you better sit down. Do you remember Juliana? Good, because I think she's going to have Lucas's baby!"  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
That's all for now. Please review; constructive comments; both good and bad are welcome. Chapter four should be up in the not too distant future. 


	4. Chapter 4

I do not claim to own the characters in this a story. No infringement of copyright is intended. I am making no money in the writing of this story. Thank you to everyone who reviewed the first three chapters.  
  
Chapter 4.  
  
"What you mean? How do you know? Are you sure?" Every time Nathan Bridger opened his mouth to answer one of the questions that Kristen Westphalen fired at him, he was cut off by yet another question.  
  
After a while he gave up trying to get a word in and just stood there waiting for her to finish.  
  
"Well, are you going to answer me or not?"  
  
If he hadn't been so terrified then Nathan would have smiled. Dr. Westphalen in full inquision mode was quite a sight to behold.  
  
Nathan tried to calm down, and explain him self rationally, as he paced around the lab, he said, "I just went in to check on Lucas-"  
  
"Has he been eating?" Kristin interrupted.  
  
"Yes, and when I was there-"  
  
"Has he sl-"  
  
"Yes, he was sleeping when I left," Nathan said, guessing at the next question. He decided it was probably not the best time to tell the doctor that it was probably the first time the teen had slept in days.  
  
"And, when I was there" and so he continued to explain everything that was said, and what he had seen on the monitor.  
  
"Well Nathan," said Kristen dryly, "It's suspicious, but not exactly conclusive. Maybe he was telling the truth."  
  
"I know he was telling the truth, Kristin, he's a terrible liar, but he is very good at bending the truth so far, you end up assuming something that is completely false. I mean, if you ask him if he has eaten, he'll say yes, it's not until you've asked another twenty odd questions, that you realise he means he ate a chocolate biscuit two days ago."  
  
"He does have a talent for avoiding subjects he doesn't want to talk about. You go and try to talk to him about not hacking in to UEO databases, and you leave half an hour later, having heard all about his latest work with Darwin and the vo-corder. By the time you realise what happened, it's too late."  
  
"So what are we going to do, Kristen?"  
  
"You have to talk to him about it." She stated emphatically.  
  
"Me, but your a doctor, surely it would be better for you to talk to him about it?" Bridger asked hopefully.  
  
"Your the Captain, he is part of your crew."  
  
"He's part of the science personal, you're in charge of all the scientists."  
  
"Your like a father to him."  
  
"No more than you are like a mother to him."  
  
"You're a man, not that your acting like one at the moment," Kristin observed dryly.  
  
"That's not fair! That's-"  
  
"Look, all you need to do is go and have a quiet chat with him, if I try to talk to him about this, I'll just embarrass him." She now said, appealing to his better nature.  
  
"You fight dirty," The Captain complained.  
  
Kristen just smiled, and went back to working on her slides, not that she had high hopes for her ability to concentrate now.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Right, gentlemen, what ideas have was come up with so far?" asked Ford.  
  
Lucas, Ben, Tim, Miguel, William Shan, and Manilow Crocker all sat at the makeshift table in one of seaQuests storerooms. Ben was supposed to be in charge of the meeting, but he still had a slightly glazed look on his face.  
  
"There are quite a few practical thing we could do, to make things a bit safer for Commander Hitchcock and the baby," began Miguel. "We could make sure she's likely to be out of any action, put her in the safest part of the boat, switch her to the safest shift, things like that."  
  
"Right, I'll make sure she switches to afternoons, but Katie is not going to be happy."  
  
"How do you know which shift is the safest?" asked Tim.  
  
"What difference does it make to the Commander which shift she is on? It's not as if there's day or night here anyway." Queried Miguel at the same time.  
  
"I know," answered Ford, "because I keep up to date with all the statistics which have any effect on this boat." And because I spent over an hour looking up the information this afternoon, when I came off my double shift, he added in his head, but he refrained from saying so out loud, it wouldn't do for them all to think that he was going soft. "Katie doesn't like working afternoons, because she thinks the shift gets the short end of the straw when it comes to the food in the mess" said Ben in answer to Miguel's question.  
  
"On the subject on food..." said Lucas, when he had woken up after the Captain had made him get some rest, Lucas had almost laughed out loud, now that his brain wasn't addled but lack of sleep he realised that there was no reliable to turn a baby into a genius. However, the searches he had carried out, a turned up a lot of information, and it seemed a pity to waste all of it.  
  
Lucas looked around the room, waiting to get every one's attention before he continued to tell them all some of the information he had found out.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Hello, Commander." Commander Katie Hitchcock was walking along the corridor to breakfast, when Miguel Ortiz met her.  
  
"Hi, Miguel," she greeted him warmly. After some well-deserved rest Katie felt on top of the world, she felt that she could handle anything people decided to throw at her, that nothing could spoil her mood.  
  
"Fancy some company for breakfast?"  
  
"Sure,"  
  
As they made their way into the mess hall, Katie wrinkled her nose, "What's that smell?"  
  
"I'm not sure, Commander," Replied Miguel, blinking his eyes to try to stop them watering.  
  
They looked around at the practically empty mess hall; it was usually thronged with people at this time of day. They both took a plate containing the only thing the mess seemed to be serving. All the other food seemed to have disappeared. There wasn't even any coffee of tea on offer, so they both had to stick with apple juice.  
  
"Do you have any idea what this is?" Katie asked Crocker as they joined him at a table.  
  
"Re-hydrated sushi, with a mixture of boiled cheese and rice." Said the Chief of security, endeavouring to look at least vaguely happy about the fact, "Try it, it's not as bad as you may think." No, he thought, it's worse. Why did I let them convince me that this was a good idea?  
  
Katie watched both men dig into their meals with all appearance of enjoyment, tentatively she tasted hers. It was truly foul. She put her hand over her mouth and forced herself to swallow.  
  
"Why are they serving this..." she tried to find a suitable word and failed "this for breakfast?"  
  
"I think I heard the kitchen staff saying it was some sort of new initiative, we're the proto-type, to see if it is going to work for all UEO ships." Answered Crocker.  
  
"Do the crew get a vote?"  
  
"I doubt it." Miguel said.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
After managing to force down at least a little of her breakfast, and filling up on apple juice Katie made her way to work on the Gazelle, she was determined not to call it a Stinger, what a stupid name for something that was so fast but so graceful, Gazelle suited it much better.  
  
As she walked into the engineering room, which had been set aside to house the Gazelle, Lieutenant Commander Hitchcock froze. She slowly reached out her hand and activated her pal, and contacted the bridge.  
  
"Lieutenant, can you give me a location on the Gazelle, please." Her voice was very calm and very precise, an obvious warning to everyone her that she was beginning to lose patience.  
  
"Excuse me Commander?" Queried the voice on the other end of the line.  
  
"He mini-sub I'm building, Lieutenant, I want to know where it is." Her voice was taking on a decidedly cold tone.  
  
"Lucas Wolenczak moved the Stinger to Bay 317, Commander."  
  
"Thank you, Lieutenant, I think you will find that it's called a Gazelle." She snapped into her pal, before deactivating it.  
  
Katie forced her self to take several deep breaths before going to have a long talk with a certain teenager.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Lucas, are you sure it was a good idea to move the Stinger down here?" O'Neill asked.  
  
"You heard what the Commander said, this is the safest place on the boat." Said Lucas crawling out from under the craft, which was suspended a few feet above the deck.  
  
"We need to keep Katie here as much as possible, the easiest was to do that was to move the Stinger."  
  
"She's not going to be happy." Tim observed. "Especially if she's tried breakfast."  
  
"According to Dr. Washington, it's the best thing she can eat in her condition." Dr. Washington had been one of Lucas's tutors at Stanford, but had now moved away form artificial intelligence, to study what factors affect human intelligence. Lucas had had a long talk with him on the subject. It was Dr. Washington who had suggested the food plan, which they were trying to get Katie to follow without her knowledge.  
  
"Lucas have you tasted that stuff."  
  
"I haven't gotten around to it..." he hedged.  
  
"Have you eaten anything?"  
  
"Yes, Tim, I have."  
  
"When?"  
  
"I am capable of feeding myself on a regular basis, Tim" said Lucas exasperatedly "Have you got every thing set up ready?" he added, changing the subject adeptly.  
  
"I've only got one more room to do. When she gets here make-sure she stays away from her quarters."  
  
"No problem, I'm sure she'll have enough to say, that should take a while."  
  
"LUCAS! What were you thinking? Were you thinking? What possible reason could you have for moving the Gazelle down here? Do you realise you made me look like a complete fool?" said Katie swinging the door to bay 317 open. "O'Neill, what are you doing here?"  
  
"I, um, was, um, just leaving." Tim answered ducking through the door quickly.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ben Krieg sat in his quarters staring at the monitor of his vid-phone. He was talking one of the UEO supply officer's up world.  
  
"I need all the food dispatched and delivered direct to seaQuest a.s.a.p." he said completing his order.  
  
"Most of this food isn't generally issued to submarines, are you sure this is autherised?"  
  
"Of course I am," said Krieg confidently. "We are part of a trail programme set up by Admiral Trent."  
  
"Well, no-ones told me anything about it." Came the stubborn reply.  
  
"Tell me about it, no-one told me anything about it either, when does the brass ever tell us supply officers anything, don't they realise that with out us, they would be all be starving." Replied Krieg in just the right tone, to convince the other man that it was a simple case of supply officers against the brass.  
  
"OK, I'll check it out and see what I can do."  
  
"Thank, I really appreciate it."  
  
Ben watched the officer type into his computer and mentally crossed his fingers for good luck. I wasn't that Ben didn't trust Lucas, he knew that the teen hadn't had any trouble hacking into the UEO files and creating the order for the new food programme.  
  
Lucas had not been impressed when Admiral Trent had refused to supply the components for Lucas to fix the vo-corder because he didn't believe that either the dolphin or the teenager should be on the boat. It was no coincidence that he happened to pick the same Admiral. If it all backfired, it was the Admiral who was going to be answering the uncomfortable questions.  
  
However, Ben also knew that it's often the best-laid plans that go so very, very wrong.  
  
To be continued...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
That's all for now, please REVIEW. Any feedback is welcome. Chapter 5 should be up quite soon. There should be a bit more about the Lucas / Juliana pregnancy next time.  
  
Oh, by the way, I don't know which way this story is going to go yet, but I think I should mention, that if anyone feels a strange inclination to think I know anything much about medicine, or the technical aspects of submarines, they should try to ignore it. And I strongly advice any one who's pregnant, not to follow the diet etc which Katie Hitchcock find's herself forced to endure :-) 


	5. Chapter 5

I do not claim to own the seaQuest or the characters in this story. This is written for entertainment only. I am making no money from writing this. No breach of copyright is intended.  
  
Thank you to db, Kiddo, the Dominatrix, Jupiter 2, Jules, Tippy, Wanda and every one else who has read and reviewed the first few chapters.  
  
Chapter 5.  
  
"Well, what do you know, I looks like what you said right," Krieg let out the breath he hadn't known he was holding. "I'll put a rush on the order, it should be there soon." The man on the vid-phone continued.  
  
"Thanks." Ben replied switching off the screen.  
  
He looked down at the list of things he had been given to do. He'd ordered the food for the new diet, and he'd managed to get hold of near enough all the other things. Ben couldn't help thinking about what the baby would be like. He sat there and day dreamed the rest of the day way.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
A few hours later Lucas was crawling under the Stinger, trying to finish off the wiring, when he heard Katie Hitchcock saying she was going to take a brake. He didn't think I would be a good idea to tag along, so, after thinking for a moment, he reached for the voc-order, and called Darwin. Moments later the Dolphin was in the aqua-tube nodding happily at his friend.  
  
"Lucas, Play!"  
  
"No Darwin, I can't play right now, I need you to follow Katie."  
  
"Why Lucas want Darwin to follow Katie?"  
  
"We need to make sure that Katie is safe. I want you to keep an eye on her."  
  
"Katie Darwin's friend, Darwin follow Katie, make Katie safe."  
  
"Thanks fish - face." Lucas said as he watched the dolphin swim happily away.  
  
Lucas felt as if a huge weight had been lifted off his shoulders, he was used to tuning out the whole world when he was working, trying to keep half his mind on what Katie was doing was driving him crazy. But, all the men had agreed that it was not safe to let Katie work unsupervised; she had a habit of being stubbornly independent, and none of them thought it would be a good idea to let Katie do anything too strenuous in her condition.  
  
Just has he was starting to get back to work, Lucas heard the hatch opening. He looked up from where he lay under the stinger, and tried not to groan out loud. Standing above him was the Captain, and he was wearing his "We need to Talk" expression.  
  
"Hello Captain."  
  
"You know Kiddo, it's been a while since we had a nice long chat."  
  
"That because every time we met, you're either trying to get me to eat, or sleep."  
  
"Now you mention it, when was the last time you...?" The Captain paused, "No, you're not changing the subject that easily. Is there any thing you want to talk to me about?"  
  
"Well, we've almost finished aligning the sensors on the Stinger -"  
  
"I've read the updates Commander Hitchcock has handed in. Want to try another subject."  
  
Lucas thought for a moment and then brightened up. "Your right Captain, we haven't caught up in a while. How are things with you, Captain? How are the meeting about the science budget going?"  
  
"Those idiots on the board, they have no idea how important the work we are trying to do is! Do you know what they asked me...?" About five minutes later Captain Bridger paused for breath, and almost smacked his forehead in frustration. Lucas always managed to change the subject. He decided to change tactics.  
  
"How did things go last time you visited Node 3?"  
  
"Fine," Lucas replied, trying desperately to remember if he and Wolf-man had hacked into anything that the Captain might have found out about.  
  
"Lucas, if the whole place had fallen down around your ears, when asked about it you would have said fine. I'd like a less automatic answer, please."  
  
"Me and Wolf-man didn't hack into anything major." Lucas said defensively, pushing his shaggy blond hair out of his eyes. Well, he rationalised to himself, it wasn't really a major government.  
  
"What about you and Juliana?" The Captain asked, while he watched the teenagers face intently.  
  
"Juliana?" Lucas said. He wished he could stop blushing every time some one mentioned her name. "Me and Juliana didn't hack into anything either."  
  
"It's not really hacking I wanted to speak to you about, although it sounds like we need to go over what you may consider to be appropriate use of your talents again soon."  
  
"Yes, Captain." Lucas answered, resigned to another lecture about secure data bases being secured for a reason.  
  
"In the mean time, how are things between you and Juliana?"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"It's a reasonable question, Lucas." The Captain replied, trying not to smile too much at the panicked look on Lucas's face.  
  
"It's none of your business!"  
  
"But it is, while you're on seaQuest, I'm your legal guardian, that makes every thing you do my business. I'm not asking anything your parents wouldn't ask if they were here." Bridger reasoned.  
  
Lucas privately thought that his parents would do no such thing, if they noticed his relationship with Juliana, which was highly unlikely since thy never paid any attention to him unless he was in some sort of trouble, then they would be too busy telling him not to waste his time with girls, that he should be concentrating on studying, or on keeping up the appearance that his parents were perfect  
  
When Lucas didn't answer, Bridger continued. "I want you to know that if there is anything you want to discuss with me, or if there are any questions you want to ask me-"  
  
"What!?"  
  
"Well, Lucas, your sixteen, at your age, it's quite normal for boys to have questions about-"  
  
"That's right Captain, I'm sixteen, not six!" Lucas exclaimed pacing around the room. "Believe me, any questions I may have had, were answered a long time ago! And why are you suddenly so concerned about my sex life anyway?"  
  
Bridger wasn't sure if he was right in thinking that Lucas he just admitted that he was having a sexual relationship with Juliana or not, but he filed the comment away for later attention. The Captain knew he couldn't tell the teen that he'd checked what was on his computer, so he took a leaf out of Lucas's own book, and answered the question truthfully, if not entirely honestly.  
  
"Doctor Westphalen thought that it would be a good idea if we had a talk."  
  
"You've been talking about this with Doctor Westphalen!" This was going from bad to worse.  
  
"We're both worried about you Lucas, sixteen is a very difficult age, especially when you don't met people your own age very often, and Juliana is your first girlfriend."  
  
"Captain, I'm not a complete idiot. I'm not going to do anything I'm not ready for."  
  
"Captain we have a call from the Secretary General."  
  
Bridger reached for his pal, and told the coms officer he was on his way. "We'll finish this conversation later on, kiddo." He said as he closed the hatch behind him.  
  
To be continued...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
As per usual, any comments you feel inclined to take the time to make will be greatly appreciated. Sorry this Chapter's a bit shorter than the others; it just worked out that way. In theory I plan to get Chapter 6 on line by the end of the week, but that is just a theory. 


	6. Chapter 6

The usual applies; I don't own seaQuest, or any of the characters you recognise. No money is being made, not infringement of copyright is intended. Thanks to Kiddo, the Dominatrix, ASL, Sara, and any one else who reviewed the last chapter.  
  
Chapter 6.  
  
Captain Bridger was having a bad day. The Secretary General had told him that while the science budget was not going to nose dive, neither was it going to increase. He was not looking forward to breaking this news to either Kristen or Lucas. Although telling Lucas about the lack of additional funding would probably be easier than continuing with their Talk.  
  
Kristen was not going to be happy, but it was probably better to get it over with sooner rather than later.  
  
Bridger was just about to grab a snack from the mess before going to tell her, when Kristen came bursting through the hatch.  
  
"Why was I not informed of this trial programme?"  
  
Bridger just stood there speechless.  
  
"As the ship's doctor, don't you think you should have consulted me?"  
  
"Kristen please sit down, and then tell me what it is your talking about." The Captain said, choosing not to mention that crewmembers shouldn't come barging into the captain quarters, even if they were in charge of the science personnel.  
  
"I want to know why you didn't think it necessary to inform me about the new trial programme seaQuest is involved in." She stated, trying to control her temper.  
  
"As far as I know, we aren't involved in any trials." Bridger responded wearily.  
  
"Have you been in the mess today?"  
  
"No, I didn't have time for breakfast, and I was just on my way to grab my dinner now."  
  
Kristen smiled suddenly and said "Why don't I walk with you, we can discuss it over food."  
  
"That sounds like a good idea." Came the cautious reply.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
The Captain and the Doctor walked though the corridors of seaQuest chatting amicably. Suddenly the Captain stopped.  
  
"Can you smell something strange?"  
  
Kristen just smiled knowingly, and carried on towards the mess.  
  
"I believe you will find that smell is re-hydrated sushi, mixed with boiled rice and cheese. The same..." she searched for a word that would do the meal justice, "...concoction was served for breakfast."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"That's what I was trying to ask you. The only information I can get off the computers, is that it is part of a trial programme put into effect by Admiral Trent."  
  
"What's he trying to do kill us all?"  
  
"You see why I thought the ship's doctor should have been consulted."  
  
"I think the ship's Captain should have been consulted! I'm going to go and get to the bottom of this." And with that he stalked out of the mess and back to his quarters, all his appetite forgotten.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Nathan I swear that the whole programme didn't even exists two days ago." Said Noyce from the other end of the vid - phone connection.  
  
"It says on the computer that it's been in the planning for months!"  
  
"I realise that, but I've never heard of it before today."  
  
"So your saying it just appeared? What does Admiral Trent say about all this?"  
  
Noyce looked distinctly uncomfortable. "That's what I don't understand, he had a heart attack about two months ago, he's been in the hospital ever since."  
  
"So who authorise the programme?"  
  
"Well, it was Admiral Trent's access codes that were used, and they're secure, no-one else has access to them. It just doesn't make any sense."  
  
"Bill, someone must have found his codes somehow, how long will it be before they try to do something more serious?" Bridger ranted, angry that someone could mess around with his boat so easily.  
  
"I'll have some of my security people to look into the whole thing, and I'll get back to you as soon as I can. Nathan."  
  
"Thanks Bill." Captain Bridger switched off the vid-screen and sat heavily on his bunk, making a mental note to talk about security with Ford the next time he saw his XO. Now that he had time to cool down and think, his stomach was eager to remind him he had been neglecting it.  
  
'Now,' Bridger thought to himself, 'who would have real food on board.'  
  
He smiled and said to the empty room, with a hint of satisfaction in his voice, "Krieg."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Once again the supply room was full, Ben, Tim and Miguel sat on the bunk, Crocker and Shan had cleared the top of two crates and were using them as make shift chairs, Lucas was sitting on the floor with his lap top, Ford had opted to remain standing.  
  
"This food thing is not going to work."  
  
"I just told what Dr. Washington said, it wasn't my idea to serve it to the whole crew" said Lucas looking pointedly at Ben.  
  
"It's the only way to get Katie to eat it." Ben answered matter of fatly. "No-one would eat that if they had a choice."  
  
"The crew is going to mutiny before the end of the week." Commented Miguel.  
  
"We're luck we only need to stick to this particular food plan for rest the week, after that it's a lot more relaxed." Lucas flicked through a few screens on his laptop. "Are you sure every thing else sorted out?"  
  
"Don't worry so much Lucas, I followed your instructions to the letter, I may not be a genius, but I can handle a bit of simple electronics."  
  
"I know that Tim, I just don't want to face Katie if this bit goes wrong."  
  
Crocker sat up straighter as a thought struck him. "Who's watching Commander Hitchcock now?"  
  
"I asked Darwin to watch her." Lucas replied distractedly.  
  
"What? You're intrusting the care of my wife and my child to a fish!" Shouted Ben leaping up from the bed and accidentally elbowing Miguel in the head.  
  
"A dolphin's a mammal." Lucas corrected calmly, although any one watching his hands closely may have seen a tell tale tremor of fear when Ben shouted. Lucas crossed his arms to hide his hands, he hated the way his past crept up on him sometimes, even when he knew intellectually that Ben would never hurt him, instinct warned him not to take the chance, that he had been hurt too many times in the past to risk it again.  
  
"Katie is perfectly safe with Darwin. He'll tell us if anything happens which we need to know about." Lucas continued.  
  
They all jumped when someone knocked on the hatch to the supply room.  
  
"Come in." Ben called after only a slight hesitation.  
  
A moment later the Captain poked his head around the door and looked in surprise at seeing a good portion of his senior crew already there before he said,  
  
"Don't tell me you're all trying to get your hands on real food as well?"  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
That's it for the moment, not exactly an enthralling chapter, but with any luck the next one should be posted some time next week, and that one should be a bit better. What do you think of the story so far, good, bad, or indifferent? Post a review and let me know. Any comments or suggestions are always welcome.  
  
Caddie. 


	7. Chapter 7

Thanks to SugarSugar, Kiddo, Sara, FishFace12, and anyone else who reviewed the last chapter. To answer your questions -  
  
No, none of the seaQuest crew knows anything about Lucas's past, none of them even suspect yet since he's learned to be good at hiding his emotions.  
  
Yes, I do intend to write a story where they find out. (I have one little one to do after I finished this one, that is going to be a little flash back thing to when Lucas was about 6, before his parents got divorced, and then I'm going to write a "discovering Lucas's past" story.)  
  
And lastly, no, I'm not really going into his past in this story. I didn't intend to mention it at all, but it kind of sneaked it's way in. So, I'm now going to pretend that I intended to include all the time, to set the scene for the next story I plan to write.  
  
Oh, by the way, I don't own the seaQuest or the characters that serve upon her, I'm not making any money, and I intend no infringement of copy write towards those people who do.  
  
Now, since I have definitely babbled enough, on with the story. This chapter is bit longer than the last two.  
  
Chapter 7.  
  
"Actually, we were just discussing the food, Captain." Said Ben, since he was the first one to reign in his surprise and kick his vocal cords into action. "I don't have anything except the food in the mess, as per regulations."  
  
"Since when have regulations bothered you, Krieg?"  
  
"I'm turning over a new leaf, Captain, I want to be a good influence on-" Ben stopped when Miguel 'accidentally' kicked him in the leg.  
  
"On... on Lucas." Ben said realising the mistake he was about to make.  
  
"You want to be a good influence on... Lucas?" The Captain arched his eyebrow in surprise.  
  
"Yes, Captain."  
  
Bridger nodded, but looked decidedly sceptical. Ben Krieg was never going to be a good influence on any body, when he wasn't trying to make a quick buck; he was planning his next practical joke, or something equally unsuitable for an officer in the UEO.  
  
Deciding that they were probably planning something a Captain shouldn't know about, he made a quick exit soon after. Although he did wait around until Krieg 'remembered' that he did in fact have a small amount of real food in the storeroom, and handed it over.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Katie was not happy. In fact, she was starting to think she was going insane. She'd kept waking up in the middle of the night, convinced she could hear music. It wasn't unpleasant music; it was a classical piece that she couldn't quite put a name to, which was annoying in it.  
  
At about five o'clock in the morning, Katie had given up trying to sleep through the music, and instead tried to find out where it was coming from, it was impossible. There were no speakers, it wasn't even coming from a particular direction, the music was just there.  
  
In the end she had contacted the communications and sensors officers on the bridge, but they had both assured her that there was no music.  
  
Then had come the final straw, she was being stalked by a dolphin. At first Katie had told her self that she was imagining things. But every time she woke up, Darwin was in the aqua tube watching her, now, as she made her way to work on the Gazelle, she knew without even looking behind her that he was following her in the parallel tube.  
  
Katie was not entirely sure she wasn't paranoid, of I've someone was really trying to drive her crazy. Either way she was not impressed as she entered the Gazelle's new home.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Tim do you think this is all going to work?" Lucas was more than a little worried; he'd expected everyone to laugh when he had told them what he had found out while doing his research, instead they were taking it as some kind of law.  
  
"Well, the food plan is a disaster waiting to happen, but since no one took any notice when you pointed that out, there's not much we can do about it now." Tim replied as they walked down the corridor towards the bay the Stinger was being held in.  
  
"Yea, well, when I mentioned that listening to classical music was supposed to be a good idea, neither of us could have guessed that they were going to decide to pipe it in to her room when she's asleep." Lucas added shaking his head, and sending his blond hair tumbling into his eyes.  
  
"That was Miguel's idea." Tim reminded the teen. "But what I don't understand" he continued, "Is why, when we were the only ones who noticed that the ideas were stupid, we still seem to be doing all the work?"  
  
"I know, and I still don't understand how they can all think the whole thing is such a good idea. Ben, well, we all expect Ben to be..." Lucas paused trying to find the right word, "a bit eccentric, but the others are supposed to be more sensible. I mean even Ford is getting carried along, with little more than a token protest."  
  
"They think they're helping." Tim said shrugging his narrow shoulders.  
  
"Yea," Lucas snorted, "But they didn't even change the plan when I pointed out that she should avoid stress. What could be more stressful than a bunch of morons messing around with your whole life?"  
  
"I'll have to think about that one." Tim said with a smile, "Good luck in there." He added as they reached their destination.  
  
"I think I'm going to need it." Lucas said opening the hatch.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Hi Katie."  
  
Katie looked up from her work but only grunted in reply.  
  
"How's the realignment going?" asked Lucas.  
  
Another grunt.  
  
"Anything I can help with?"  
  
Katie stopped what she was doing. "Could you hear music last night?"  
  
"No, why?" Lucas responded warily.  
  
"Have you noticed anything strange about Darwin recently?"  
  
"No, is he acting strange?"  
  
"Yes, Lucas he is, he's stalking me!"  
  
"Oh, um, are you feeling stressed Katie?"  
  
"Just a little bit, yes." Katie said sarcastically.  
  
Lucas thought for a moment. Debating what to do next. There was only one thing he could think of doing to help, but he would have to wait a little while before he could do that.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
A few hours later, Katie came back from the mess hall with two cartons of Apple juice. As she opened the hatch, she saw Lucas jump away from what he was doing and stand in front of his work station so she couldn't see what he had been doing when she was gone.  
  
"What are you hiding Lucas?" she asked suspiciously trying to peer over his shoulder.  
  
"I um, nothing important, um, err..."  
  
Katie gently moved him to one side, and looked at what he had been doing. On the workbench was a small nameplate with "Gazel-" engraved on it.  
  
"Lucas?"  
  
"Well, you seemed really stressed... and I thought... well, it's not that bad a name... not as good as, um, stinger would have been... but, um... I thought it might cheer you up... um... I still have two more letters to go... um." Lucas stammered going a very interesting shade of red.  
  
"Lucas, thank you, that was a lovely thing to do, it really has cheered me up." Katie said smiling and giving the embarrassed teen a quick hug. Lucas froze for a moment before timidly returning the gesture.  
  
"We'd better get back to work if we're going to get the alignment sorted out." Said Katie, looking much like her old self.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Once again the storeroom was full.  
  
"Katie is just getting more and more stressed, she thinks Darwin is stalking her." Lucas reported. It was later that day, and Katie was taking her shift on the bridge.  
  
"O.K. any one have any ideas how to make Katie less stressed?" Ford asked.  
  
"Proper food!" Said Miguel.  
  
"No classical music being played all through the night." Added Tim.  
  
"Stop Darwin stalking her." Shan suggested.  
  
"When it comes down to it, all these measures are for her own good, it's the right thing to do." Ford responded, he was a great believer in doing the right thing.  
  
"I don't think Katie sees it like that." Observed Crocker.  
  
"What do you think I should name him?"  
  
"Krieg, what are you talking about?" Ford sighed. Ben still seemed to be suffering from a degree of shock; he kept interrupting with seemingly random comments.  
  
"What do you think I should name my son?"  
  
"Why do you assume your going to have a son?" Tim asked, "You may have a daughter."  
  
Ben tilted his head on the side, as if considering this possibility for the first time.  
  
"That would be nice, a little girl, just like Katie."  
  
"Kids don't always turn out just like their parents." Lucas said with out lifting his eyes from the screen of his laptop. "And, you shouldn't put too many expectations on the kid anyway. Let them decide what they are going to be like in their own time."  
  
They all looked at him for a moment, waiting to see if he was going to add any explanation.  
  
"I like the name Aurora?" Volunteered Miguel.  
  
"Wasn't that the name of a Disney character?" Ben asked.  
  
"She was the Roman Goddess of the Dawn." He paused before adding, "She may have been a Disney character as well."  
  
"I'm not naming my daughter after a Disney character."  
  
"Mary's a nice name." Said Tim.  
  
"It's a name that lends itself to extremes though," said Miguel "I mean on the one hand you have the Virgin Mary, on the other hand you have Mary Magdalene. Hey!" Miguel was cut off when a pillow hit him full in the face.  
  
"What do you think Lucas?" Ben asked noticing Lucas had been quiet for some time.  
  
"Anastasia Roza." He replied slowly.  
  
"Any particular reason?" Ford asked when it seemed Lucas was, yet again, going to add no explanation.  
  
"It was my Grandma's name." The teen replied smiling slightly sadly.  
  
"I think that sounds just right" Ben responded, showing more than usual tact. "What about if he's a boy?"  
  
"Well, Miguel's a nice name..." said Miguel, and laughed when everyone groaned or threw pillows at him.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Nathan and Kristen sat in front of the vid unit and looked in horror at Bill McGrath.  
  
"What do you mean you want to discuss the science budget? We've just finished finalising the budget."  
  
"Well, the space programme is looking for more funding, and since few of the board can really understand what exactly it is your doing, it looks like the funding is going to be re-arranged."  
  
"We are-" Kristen began, but Nathan interrupted her before she could get into full flow.  
  
"We want to talk to the board, Bill."  
  
"I guessed you would, the meetings are starting in a few days time, I've arranged for the two of you to attend, and since the crew is over due some shore leave, they can take that at the same time."  
  
"OK, Bill. We'll see you in a few days. I want to talk to you about this business with Admiral Trent at the same time."  
  
"OK, Goodbye Nathan."  
  
As the screen reverted back to it's UEO logo, Nathan sat and let Kristen's very detailed descriptions of what she would like to do to those who controlled her science budget flow over his head, while he went back to the problem of Lucas, Juliana, and the little talk they had yet to finish.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
To be continued...  
  
That's all for the moment, if you want any thing special to happen in the rest of the story feel free to mention it when you Review. I'm thinking of focusing the next chapter on the shore leave, good idea? Yes? No? Maybe? 


	8. Chapter 8

Thanks to Whipper, Sara, Kiddo, KatKnits00, Dani and every one else who reviewed the last chapter.  
  
As always, I do not own anything, or make money from any thing, or intentionally infringe any copyrights.  
  
Chapter 8.  
  
"Nathan Hale Bridger, your not listening to a word I said are you?" The Captain startled, and looked up at Kristen Westphalen guiltily.  
  
"I'm sorry, Kristen." He replied tiredly, "I'm just thinking about Lucas."  
  
"Have you spoken to him yet?"  
  
He nodded.  
  
"And?" She prompted.  
  
"I don't know, he's good so at hiding his feelings, his kid will be going to collage before I get him to open up properly."  
  
"You can't just give up, even if he doesn't know it, Lucas needs you at the moment."  
  
"I'll go have another try..." Said Bridger, and was a bit disappointed by how much better he felt when Kristen smiled approvingly at him. He felt that he was too old to be doing things just to impress girls.  
  
While he walked towards Lucas's room, he tried out different ways to start the conversation in his head.  
  
"Lucas, when a boy reaches a certain age..."  
  
No, that wasn't going to work, Lucas hated being reminded that he was so much younger than every one else.  
  
"Lucas, men have certain responsibilities when it comes to protection..."  
  
Well, it was a bit late for that speech now. Bridger wished he had taken the opportunity to have that discussion when Lucas went to his "conference on the social phenomenon of post adolescence." He went back to trying opening lines; oblivious to the strange looks he was getting from various crewmembers as he walked along shaking his head and smiling wryly.  
  
"Lucas remember when you dropped that condom..."  
  
Or maybe...  
  
"You know when I told you to keep it in your wallet, did I forget to mention that there are times when you should take it out..."  
  
Perhaps...  
  
"Are you looking forward to next fathers' day?"  
  
No, they both way to casual, he didn't want Lucas to think he was laughing at the whole situation. That would just get the teen on the defensive.  
  
The Captain would have been much happier if he could have just asked "Is Juliana pregnant?" but he know this was one time when his normal straight to the point approach was not going to work.  
  
Bridger wished he understood Lucas better, wished that the teen would open up to him more - Captain Bridger knew that he knew Lucas better than anyone else on the boat, but still it was mostly just surface stuff. What's your favourite music? Have you eaten? How's the project going? What do you think of this new research? Have you had time to do that programme yet? Did you enjoy your last shore leave?  
  
He didn't know much about what went on in the teens head, or how he felt about the world, and what he did know was put together from bits and pieces gleaned from infrequent outbursts. Bridger had no idea what Lucas's opinions on teenage pregnancies were.  
  
When Bridger knocked on the door on Lucas's room he still had no idea what he should say. After a few minutes went by with no answer, the Captain opened the door. There was the usual mess, and a few computers doing things - Bridger could only guess what, but no Lucas.  
  
The Captain decided to check a few of the more obvious places before he asked the comms officer to hale him. He checked the mess hall on the off chance that Lucas might have gone to get a snack. Then the bay the new sub was kept in. Then he went to the science labs, to see if Lucas was working on some research for one of the science staff.  
  
When he finally found Lucas, he heard he before he saw him.  
  
"Hi Darwin."  
  
"Lucas wont to play with Darwin?"  
  
"Not really Darwin."  
  
"Lucas sad."  
  
"Not really Darwin, I just have some things to think about."  
  
"Lucas thinking about baby?" Bridger stepped back behind the bulkhead next to the hatch he had come through, only feeling a little bit guilty for eves dropping.  
  
"Who told you about the baby?" Lucas sounded surprised.  
  
"Ben told Darwin."  
  
"Oh, so what do you think about the baby?"  
  
"Darwin happy."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"Baby play with Darwin. Darwin will teach baby how to swim."  
  
Lucas laughed quietly and smoothed Darwin's head, before becoming more serious again.  
  
"Do you think everything will work out OK?"  
  
"Of course it will, Lucas." Said Krieg from the hatch on the other side of the deck.  
  
"Krieg, has no one ever told you it's rude to eves drop." Lucas said jumping.  
  
"Don't be stupid, rules like that are meant for other people not me." The supply officer said ruffling his friend's hair.  
  
"So you really think every thing will work out OK, Ben?  
  
"Of course it will be great. Together we'll be the best father and the best uncle the world has ever seen."  
  
Lucas couldn't help but smile at the other man confidence when Ben continued.  
  
"I'll teach him how to make a good deal, and you'll teach him how to hack into illegal files, Darwin will teach him how to swim."  
  
"And if it's a girl?"  
  
"We'll teach her all the same things, only difference is she'll be as beautiful as her mother."  
  
"You really believe it will all work out, just like that?"  
  
"Of course with his fathers brains and his mothers good looks, the kid has it made!"  
  
Lucas smiled and shook his head. It was hard to be sad around Ben for long - he earned every penny of his pay as the boats moral officer.  
  
"How about we go check out what's in the mess today?" Ben asked.  
  
Lucas made a face, but followed behind Ben, calling goodbye to Darwin over his shoulder.  
  
Nathan let out a breath he'd forgotten he'd been holding. So it was true, Lucas was going to be a father. It hurt a bit that Lucas had told Krieg before him, but the Captain pushed that thought aside as silly. What mattered was Lucas not himself. As he made his way back to his quarters Bridger thought about how much he would miss Lucas when he left, and there was no doubt in the Captains mind that Lucas would leave to be with Juliana and the baby.  
  
Reaching his cabin and sitting on the chair by his desk Nathan wondered how the UEO would react to their resident boy genius leaving, and thought that maybe it would be a good idea to smooth the way a bit with the brass when he went to those meetings.  
  
When he was sitting there thinking about the meetings, a thought struck the Captain, and scared him so much he jumped up from the seat, causing his knee to bang into the side of the desk. As he hopped around in a small circle holding his knee Bridger cursed under his breath. That was when Kristen Westphalen arrived.  
  
The doctor couldn't help but laugh when she saw the state of the Captain.  
  
"It's not funny." Bridger said trying to regain some of his dignity.  
  
"Oh, Nathan it is funny." Kristen replied biting her bottom lip to keep from laughing out loud again.  
  
"I think I broke something." He scowled.  
  
"Sit down so I can have a look, and tell me what happened." She said slipping in doctor mode.  
  
He explained what he had over heard, and finished saying "and then I jumped when I realised who it was who was going to end up explaining all of this to Juliana's parents."  
  
"Why do you assume it's going to be you?"  
  
"Because eventually they are going to get fed up talking to Laurence Wolenczak's answer phone. And "  
  
"Do you think her parents know yet?"  
  
Nathan shook his head.  
  
"Do you think you should tell them?"  
  
Nathan nodded.  
  
To be continued...  
  
I know I said that this one was going to be about the shore leave, but when I started to write the story it decided it wanted to go a different way. The shore leave thing is going to happen soon, but I won't say when in case I change my mind again :o)  
  
By the way, I still like getting reviews, so if you feel inclined, you're more than welcome to post one :o) 


	9. Chapter 9

Thank you to Sara, Diena, Kiddo, the Dominatrix, Katie and every one else who reviewed chapter 8. Special thanks to those who gave me ideas for things to happen while the crew are on shore leave.  
  
Guess what, I still don't own anything, or anybody, or make any money, or intentionally infringe any copyright. Maybe, if someone was feeling generous, they would call the plot (and any errors) mine, but I doubt that would stand up in court :o)  
  
Chapter 9.  
  
Nathan Bridger lay on his bed in his quarters after Kristen had left, and wondered if he was right in deciding that he should give Lucas and Juliana one more chance to tell their parents on their own. He and Kristen had eventually decided to wait until after the shore leave, and to see what happened in the mean time.  
  
When the Captain fell asleep he dreamt of holding a little newborn baby named Nathan, after himself.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
The next day most of the senior crew were sitting in the wardroom waiting for the Captain to arrive. No one knew what the meeting was about, but they all had their own theories.  
  
Everyone except Ben and Katie were wondering if the Captain had found out what was going on and how he would react. Ben was optimistic, as usual, and was trying to cheer everyone up. Katie was still not entirely sure if she was going insane, and was wondering if the Captain had noticed that she had been distracted for the last couple of days.  
  
"Are you sure he didn't tell you what this meeting was about?" Miguel asked Ford for the third time since they had sat down.  
  
"He just said to get every one into the ward room, and to set a course for Pearl Harbour." Ford repeated a little less patiently this time.  
  
"Did he sound happy?"  
  
"Actually, he sounded a bit stressed." Ford reluctantly admitted.  
  
Lucas and Tim were exchanging worried looks across the table when the Captain and the Doctor arrived.  
  
The Captain looked around at the worried faces of his crew, who were all now standing respectfully. It was often the case that one or two, generally the ones who had been involved in Krieg's latest scheme, looked a bit wary, but surely they weren't all involved in something. And Commander Hitchcock - she looked read to murder someone.  
  
"OK everyone take a seat, I have good news and I have bad news." He glanced at the doctor, wondering if she had noticed the way Lucas had paled slightly at the mention of bad news.  
  
"The good news is that you're all going to have a few days shore leave as of Saturday morning."  
  
"What's the bad news, Captain." Asked Ford.  
  
"The bad news, Commander, is that the doctor and I are going to be in meetings about funding etc. for most of the leave, so we need a volunteer to take the extra shifts."  
  
"I'm sure we can work something out, Captain." Replied Ford smoothly, relieved the news was nothing to do with bending, he didn't want to think about how many, regulations in the last few days. He was by far happier juggling duty roster than squeezing through loopholes in regulations.  
  
The Captain nodded and he and the doctor left.  
  
"So, who's going to do it?" Asked Miguel.  
  
"Katie took the extra shifts last time." Ben pointed out, deciding that it was a good idea for child to get out in the fresh air for once.  
  
"OK, I did it the time before." Ford added.  
  
"Hey, don't look at me, I'm a civilian." Lucas added when the attention of the crew turned in his direction.  
  
"Krieg?" asked Ford.  
  
"You want to leave a billion dollar boat in the hands of someone like him?" Katie asked, raising a delicately shaped eyebrow. "He'll have sold it in some back ally by the end of the day."  
  
Crocker and then Shan gave their excuses, and the gazes of the rest of the crew turned to Tim O'Neill and Miguel Ortiz. With hardly a flicker of a glance towards each other they clenched their fists for the traditional Scissors, Paper, Stone. On the count of three they each made a shape with their right hands.  
  
"Best two out of three?" asked Tim. Miguel just smiled.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Lucas, I need a favour..."  
  
"What now, Ben?" It was a few hours after the meeting, and Ben was sitting on Lucas's bed while Lucas worked on a programme that he had promised the Captain he would have ready before the end of the week.  
  
"I want you to go shopping with me."  
  
"What is it this time, beef burgers, illegal vid - discs, holographic musicians...?"  
  
"Toys." For the first time since he arrived Ben had the teens full attention.  
  
"I realise I my regret asking this, but what sort of 'Toys'?"  
  
"For the baby, you know... teddy bears, those little rattle things, and we'll need a pram, and one of things where they lie on their backs and pull the strings and things, and...."  
  
"Don't you think it may be a good idea to wait until the baby's born, or at least until Katie tells you she's pregnant?" Lucas asked.  
  
"What? Weren't you ever a boy scout, Lucas? We have to be prepared."  
  
Lucas shook his head, but agreed to go shopping with him.  
  
"Great, I'll ask Miguel and the others to come too, many heads are better than one, and all that, I'll make it up to you, buy you all a huge Dinner."  
  
"Not me thanks, I'm meeting up with a friend."  
  
Ben smiled slyly, "And which friend would that be, Lucas?"  
  
"Just a friend."  
  
"Do you want to borrow any cologne?"  
  
"No, Ben, like I said, I'm just meeting a friend." And I bought my own cologne last time we hit port, he added silently.  
  
"A friend named Juliana, by any chance?" Ben prodded.  
  
Lucas sighed and turned in his chair. "Yes, Ben, I'm meeting Juliana. She's house sitting for her aunt, who lives near the UEO head quarters, and we're going to go out for dinner. Happy now?"  
  
"Oh, that's so sweet, young love!" Ben teased.  
  
"Yea, well, if I'm not there by seven she'll kill me, so you better not make me late."  
  
"Who, me?" Ben said grinning innocently.  
  
Lucas gave up on Ben, and turned back to his computer.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Remind me again, why we all agreed to go shopping with Ben?" Crocker asked the other men while they waited on the dock for Ben and Lucas to arrive - they were running late as usual.  
  
"Because we're stupid." Shan suggested.  
  
"Maybe, I should have volunteered to do Tim's shift on the bridge." Miguel said.  
  
"It could be worse, you could be in Ford's shoes." Crocker said trying to look on the bright side.  
  
"He did volunteer."  
  
"But, only to stop Krieg following her around all day." Crocker added.  
  
"I wouldn't be the one who had to rise her temper by spend the day stalking her." Shan agreed.  
  
The three men turned when they saw two of the seaQuest crew making their way ashore. Their jaws almost hit the floor when they recognised Katie Hitchcock and Jonathan Ford chatting amicably and making their way towards them.  
  
"Commander." Crocker greeted them. "Do you two have anything special planned for today?" He asked Ford.  
  
"Not really Crocker, just going to do some site seeing." And with that the commanders left.  
  
Miguel shook his head, "He's smooth, I'll grant him that."  
  
"Who is?" Ben asked arriving behind them.  
  
"Nobody." Crocker said quickly, the last thing they needed was a replay of the whole 'I'm going to kill Ford' scenario. "You two ready?"  
  
"Ben and Lucas both nodded, and they set off towards the shops.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Do you have the funding quotas?"  
  
"Yes Kristen."  
  
"And the papers on the deep seeps?"  
  
"Yes Kristen."  
  
"What about the numbers the paleo-geologists gave us?"  
  
"Yes Kristen."  
  
"There's no need to be nervous, I'm sure they'll sustain our funding."  
  
"Yes Kristen."  
  
The doctor shot Nathan a reproachful look.  
  
"I just want to make sure we're prepared for everything." She said, turning to look out the car window.  
  
"I know Kristen, but everything will be fine, I promise."  
  
"I'll keep you to that." She smiled.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Ben, you've already bought one of those!" Crocker complained when Ben picked up a mat with all different felt shapes attached to it.  
  
"Yes but that one was supposed to 'improve hand eye co-ordination,' this one 'teaches babies the alphabet and fine motor control'."  
  
"And besides, that one was blue, this one is red."  
  
"Exactly." For once impervious to Lucas's sarcasm.  
  
Miguel rolled his eyes. "We've been in this shop for hours, haven't you got enough yet?" he asked pointing to the over flowing shopping trolleys each man was pushing.  
  
"This is the best baby supply shop for miles, and my baby deserves the best."  
  
"Fine, but one more hour, and then we stop for Lunch." Miguel grumbled.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Katie and Ford sat in the ice cream parlour finishing off giant banana splits.  
  
"That was wonderful." Katie said leaning back in her chair. How did you ever find this place?"  
  
"I was stationed here for a while, not long after I left the academy, I know all the best places." Ford said smiling. His plan to calm Katie's nerves was working out just as he planned. "What do you want to do next?"  
  
"I'm going to get some shopping done, you?"  
  
"I'll tag along, if you don't mind."  
  
"Of course not."  
  
They made their way along the busy street until Katie stopped outside a shop called 'Baby Boom'. It reminded Katie of Lieutenant Lewis, and she decided to buy the young officer a gift, ready for when the announcement was made.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"I can't believe it." Kristen said, grinning madly. "They actually increased our funding!"  
  
"How about we go out and celebrate over an early lunch?"  
  
"That would be wonderful Nathan."  
  
"I know just the place, I just have to make one stop on the way."  
  
"Oh, where's that?"  
  
"There's a shop I remember passing a while ago, which sells all baby things, I thought I'd get a present for Lucas's baby."  
  
To be continued...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Well, I'm going to leave it there for now, hope your enjoying it so far, the rest of the shore leave will probably be covered in Chapter 10, which should be written quite soon. If you feel inclined, reviews are always welcome ;o) 


	10. Chapter 10

Thanks to Denia, Sara, Whipper, Shi-Nom, Ahn-Li Steffraini, KatKnits00, Kiddo and anyone else who reviewed Chapter 9.  
  
If you don't already know, I own nothing, I make no money, and I mean no infringement of copyright.  
  
Sara, I will be using your idea, but in another fic I have planned, if that's OK with you :o)  
  
Oh, and before I forget, Whipper - I managed to get it posted before the 30th, so, just in case your wondering, choc chip cookies are my favourite ;o)  
  
Chapter 10.  
  
"Ben, you've bought three teddy bears, you don't need another one!"  
  
"But, Lucas, listen, it plays a tune when you press his paw. Isn't that sweet."  
  
"So did the blue one." Lucas pointed out.  
  
"Lucas, get down."  
  
"Umpf-" said Lucas as Ben landed on top of him.  
  
Ben waved frantically at Miguel, Shan and Crocker. Shan looked over his shoulder and then pushed the other two behind a display of rag dolls.  
  
"Ben, what are you doing, have you finally flipped?" Lucas asked from where he was pinned down. Lucas could feel his heart pounding in his rib cage. He had wondered what he had done wrong this time, before realising where he was, and who he was with. It was only when he heard Ben's voice that he remembered to breath out again.  
  
"She's over there." Ben whispered.  
  
"Who?"  
  
"Katie, I saw her, she's over there!" Ben nodded towards the other side of the shop.  
  
"Ben?" Lucas whispered.  
  
"Yea, what?"  
  
"Ben, I can't breath, you're squashing me!" he gasped.  
  
"Oh, sorry Luke."  
  
"Lucas, not Luke." He corrected when he had got his breath back, but Ben was peeking out from behind a rack of blue teddy bears that were holding a balloon saying 'It's a boy!'  
  
"There's some one with her, I can't see who it is." Ben told Lucas, as he peered through the rack, trying to get a clear view.  
  
"Hey, careful!" Lucas exclaimed when one of the teddies fell off the rack and landed unceremoniously on his head.  
  
"I can't get a clear view... I don't believe it... he wouldn't... I'm going to kill him."  
  
Ben started to make his way out to confront Ford, when Miguel cannoned into him and pushed him back towards where Lucas was still sitting, knocking over a barrel full of bright yellow rattles.  
  
"Ben, Ben, listen to me. You need to calm down." Miguel cajoled, over the noise of the little plastic toys.  
  
"He's over there, with my wife, and you want me to be calm?"  
  
"Ben, they're just shopping. You told him to keep an eye on her."  
  
"I told him to follow her, not to spend the day making googol eyes at her!"  
  
"Ben, do you want Katie to know your here?" Lucas whispered.  
  
"No." The supply officer admitted sullenly.  
  
"Then keep quiet." Lucas hissed at his friend.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"What was that noise?" Katie asked Ford looking over her shoulder.  
  
"What noise?" Ford looked innocently in the wrong direction.  
  
"You didn't here that?"  
  
"Maybe someone knocked over one of the displays." Ford suggested, thinking that he would bet a months wages on just who that person was. Jonathan Ford had spent enough time with Ben, all be it reluctantly, on this tour to know that any noise that loud was, with out doubt, made in the vicinity of Krieg.  
  
"You never said what it was you wanted to get in here." He pointed out, trying to distract Katie from the noise.  
  
"A present for..." Katie stopped unwilling to betray Lieutenant Lewis's confidence. "Um... for someone on seaQuest."  
  
Ford tried to sound casual, "Some one on seaQuest is pregnant?"  
  
"Um... yes, only it hasn't been announced yet, it's kind of a secret. Not even the father knows yet."  
  
"Well, don't worry Katie, your secret is safe with me."  
  
Maybe if Katie hadn't been distracted, trying to work out what had caused the noise, than she would have thought that calling it her secret was strange, but, as it was, she didn't even listen to what Ford said.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Maybe we should get them both?" Nathan said.  
  
"Do you have room in your trolley? I think mine is full." Kristen said.  
  
Nathan looked up from the stuffed toy sheepishly. "I have bought quite a bit haven't I?"  
  
"Just a bit." Kristen said with a smile. She had never thought that she would see the day when the Captain of the most powerful boat in the UEO, spent over twenty minutes trying to decide between two teddy bears.  
  
"I never did this when Robert was born." He said, by way of explanation. "I was on tour in the Indian Ocean, if I remember right." The Captain sighed.  
  
"I'm sure the baby will like them all."  
  
Kristen looked over towards Nathan, but he seemed to be miles away, in his own world.  
  
"Nathan, what's wrong?" Kristen asked when the Captain hustled her behind a shelf full of baby grows.  
  
"He's over there."  
  
"Who is? What's got into you Nathan?"  
  
"Lucas! He's over there!"  
  
"And that explains why we're hiding behind a collection of baby clothes?" Kristen said, peering over Nathan's shoulder, her temper building.  
  
"I, for one, don't want to have to explain that I'm here just because I've been eves dropping on him!"  
  
"Oh, I see, well, maybe you do have a point," Kristen conceded. "But we can't hide here for ever." Even if it is nice to get you on your own for once, she thought privately.  
  
"It's OK I have an idea." The Captain said.  
  
"Psst." Bridger hissed at a passing store clerk.  
  
The young man looked over towards the uniformed man and then looked over his shoulder confused. Bridger motioned for the clerk to come closer.  
  
"Can I help you, sir?" came the hesitant query.  
  
"Yes, I'd like you to check these items out, pack them up, and have them sent to the Captain's quarters on seaQuest, in the UEO dock. Understand?"  
  
The clerk looked worried. "You could come to the till?" he suggested.  
  
"No, I can't be seen here."  
  
"OK, sir, um... maybe I could ask the manager to come talk to you..."  
  
Bridger did some quick sums, working out how much he had bought. "Look, take this" he handed the clerk several large notes. "Anything over what the items cost, you can keep."  
  
The clerk looked over at the things in the trolley, did the same sums as Bridger, took the notes and said, in his best helpful employee voice. "Of course sir, No problem, is there anything else I can help you with?"  
  
"No thank you, you've been very helpful. But, one warning, don't even think about pocketing all the money, or... well, just use your imagination." Nathan said with a smile as he led Kristen out of the shop, ducking behind various shelves and racks on the way.  
  
As they stepped outside the door Kristen gave up trying to hold her laughter in.  
  
"What? What's so funny?"  
  
Kristen just kept on laughing.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"What's he doing? I can't see." Ben complained.  
  
"Neither can I, your heads in the way." Miguel responded. "Can't we go yet, I'm hungry."  
  
"No, she'll see us."  
  
"Only because five grown men buying toys together looks ridicules." Snapped Shan as he and Crocker made their way over to them.  
  
"I want to see what they're going to do first."  
  
"Ben-"  
  
"Sh, they're going, we have to follow them."  
  
"Ben, we can't follow them."  
  
"Why not?"  
  
"Because... because..." Miguel looked in desperation at the others for a reason that Ben would go along with.  
  
"Because we'd have to leave all the presents behind." Lucas finished for him.  
  
Ben didn't look happy, but sighed resolutely when he looked over towards the over flowing trolleys.  
  
"OK, let's check out then."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
A few hours later Kristen had managed to stop laughing at the events in the shop, and she and Bridger were back at UEO head quarters.  
  
"Bill, I still don't understand how anyone managed to access Admiral Trent's codes."  
  
"Neither do I, Nathan, who ever did it, they must have known what he was doing. They got in through S180."  
  
"Lucas isn't going to be happy." Bridger said pushing his had through his hair.  
  
"What do you mean?" Kristen asked, thinking that Lucas had enough problems without more being added on top.  
  
"That's the part of the security system Lucas designed."  
  
"Did he make some sort of mistake, when he wrote the programme?"  
  
"That's the strange thing, none of our security people can work out how, who ever it was got in, or for that matter why he accessed the codes through the most secure part of the system."  
  
"Oh, no. Nathan I've just thought of something."  
  
"What?"  
  
"Who would get the most trouble off the crew if they had to eat rations they didn't like."  
  
"The supply officer." Nathan answered automatically.  
  
"So it would be a good joke to play on Krieg, wouldn't it?"  
  
"Yes, but who'd have the ability to pull this kind of...?" Asked Bill.  
  
"He wouldn't, Lucas wouldn't do something like that." Already seeing where Kristen was heading.  
  
"After what happened on April fools day?"  
  
The Captain looked from Kristen to Bill McGrath, and back again.  
  
"It does explain a lot." He admitted reluctantly. "I just find it hard to believe he would do something like this, for a joke!"  
  
"He is just a teenager." McGrath pointed out.  
  
Kristen and the Captain looked at each other and both thought the same thing, that Lucas wasn't going to be just a teenager for long, he was going to be a father too.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Some one needs to teach him a lesson."  
  
"Don't be to hard on him Nathan."  
  
"He has to learn responsibility, especially now he's going to be a father."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
It was six o'clock and Lucas hurried down the corridor of seaQuest. He wanted to get changed for his date with Juliana quickly, so he could be there to pick her up in plenty of time.  
  
"Lucas, stop right there."  
  
"Sorry, Captain, I'm in a rush, can we talk later?"  
  
"No, Lucas, we need to talk now."  
  
"I'm supposed to meet a friend..."  
  
"That can wait. The doctor and I need to talk to you about a few things right now, in my quarters."  
  
"But, Captain..." Lucas began, but stopped when he recognised the look on the Captain's face. That look always meant trouble. He just hoped this wouldn't take too long, and that he would be able to meet Juliana on time...  
  
To be continued...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Another chapter done :o) so, what do you think? If you want, you could let me know in a review... (That's probably not subtle enough to be called a hint, is it?) But anyway... Chapter 11 should be up before too long :o) 


	11. Chapter 11

Thanks to Sara, Kiddo, the Dominatrix, Shi-Nom and any one else who reviewed chapter 10.  
  
I don't own anyone, I'm just borrowing them for a while, and I promise to return them in fairly good condition after I'm done. I'm not making any money, via fan fiction or anything else for that matter. And I'm not intentionally infringing any copyrights.  
  
Chapter 11.  
  
Lucas sat opposite the Captain and the Doctor, and wondered why they had called him in to speak to them, when all they had done for the last five minutes was sit in silence. He was beginning to get worried, when Bridger finally spoke.  
  
"Now that your here, I'm not sure where to start." The Captain paced restlessly back and forth across his quarters.  
  
"Is there anything, any thing at all, that you want to tell us, Lucas?" asked Kristen, moving to sit besides the teen.  
  
"Nothing." He replied trying desperately to work out what it was they were getting at - if they knew about Ben's baby, or if he had done something wrong.  
  
Nathan Bridger sighed. "Lucas we know about the baby." He blurted out.  
  
"Oh," Lucas's colour drained slightly, but, not knowing how much they knew, he was mindful of his promise to keep the whole thing a secret. "When did you find out?"  
  
"Not for certain until a few days ago, but we suspected as much for a while." Kristen explained, wondering how the teen could be so calm. "Why didn't you tell us?"  
  
"I knew that you would work it out sooner or later, but I promised to keep it a secret."  
  
"I know you thought that you were doing the right thing, but you have to start to learn to be more responsible, especially the way things are now."  
  
Lucas nodded, assuming that there was going to be another lecture along the lines of - just because your a teenager, you are still a member of this crew, and as such have a duty to behave responsibly. When the speech didn't happen, he looked up into the Captains eyes.  
  
"And it's about responsibility we want to speak to you now."  
  
Lucas nodded resigned to the lecture, but Bridger continued.  
  
"When we were with the Secretary General today, we discovered something else."  
  
"What?" Lucas could feel his mouth going dry, and tried to swallow, he didn't like this sudden change of subject. He didn't like not knowing what was going on.  
  
"Do you remember Admiral Trent?" Again there was another nod.  
  
"A few weeks ago he had a heart attack..."  
  
Lucas's colour turned another shade lighter.  
  
"But his codes were used when he was still in hospital... Do you know anything about that Lucas?"  
  
Lucas sighed and nodded.  
  
"I may have seemed funny at the time, but this was a joke too far, Lucas." The Captain had not entirely convinced himself that his young friend really was to blame, until that moment, now he completely failed to hide his disappointment.  
  
"Yes, Sir." Lucas said, it was always a good answer when you weren't sure what the Captain was talking about, but he kept his eyes on his shoes, realising that neither Bridger nor Westphalen knew as much as he thought they had, and afraid they would see the truth in his eyes.  
  
"We know that you wanted to get some kind of revenge on Krieg, but this was not the way to go about it. Was anyone else involved in the trick?"  
  
Lucas said nothing for a moment, trying to work out what they thought was going on. When he spoke he decided that a neutral statement was probably safest. "Hackers aren't known for working in teams, sir."  
  
"How did you get around the security measures? You needed a senior crewmember to sign a change in procedures this major, and the supply officer too."  
  
"It's not difficult to work around security measures when you know every ones pass codes." And he was telling the truth, it was easy, in fact it would probably have been quicker to do it that way than it had been for him to find Ford and Krieg and get them to input the codes themselves.  
  
"You know every ones codes?" Kristen asked shocked.  
  
"XQ29641B." He said, still not looking up.  
  
Kristen gasped as she recognised her own access code, the one that gave access not only to her files, but the confidential medical files of the whole crew.  
  
"Lucas, this is a very serious matter, and given the circumstances, I think it is best if you learn your lesson now, before you have other matters to deal with, and before the crew are put in danger."  
  
"I didn't endanger the crew!" Lucas said looking the Captain straight in the eye and holding his gaze, obviously angry that the Captain would accuse him of doing such.  
  
"But who knows what the next joke will do?"  
  
"It wasn't a joke-"  
  
"Then what was it?"  
  
Lucas said nothing.  
  
"Do you have anything to say in defence of your actions?" Bridger said.  
  
Lucas thought for a moment about telling them about the special diet for Katie, but didn't know how he could without getting his friends into trouble, so he shook his head. The Captain nodded to him self, feeling disappointed again, that Lucas was not telling them the whole truth.  
  
Bridger looked at the Doctor, who shook her head, but he continued regardless.  
  
"So, since you have nothing to say in your own defence, as of this moment your grounded, and all your privileges are revoked."  
  
Lucas cursed silently that the Captain had found him before his date with Juliana, but he held his tongue, consoling himself with the fact he would be able to send her a message and apologise for his absence once he got back to Mammal Engineering.  
  
"Yes, sir." He got up to leave. "I'm sorry I let you down."  
  
The Captain nodded, accepting the apology with better grace than he was feeling. "Where do you think you are going now?" he questioned.  
  
"To my room, I'm grounded remember."  
  
"No Lucas, it's more serious this time, you're not to have access to any computers attached to the mainframe."  
  
"But, every room on board has a computer connected to the main frame..." Lucas began, really worried, not for the first time, that he was going to be sent off seaQuest, back to his parents.  
  
"Not every room Lucas..." The Captain replied.  
  
Lucas looked from the Captain to the Doctor confused.  
  
"He means the brig, Lucas." Kristen explained, her tone making it quite clear that she did not approve of the Captain decision.  
  
"You're putting me in the brig, Captain?"  
  
"Lucas, we can't let you access the mainframe unless we can trust you, and since your obviously not telling us the whole truth at the moment, you will be confined to the brig until you do."  
  
Lucas hated leaving things as they were between him and the Captain, but was not willing to break his friends trust, so he left without another word, and headed toward the brig, fighting to hold his emotions in check.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Hi, Lucas." Said Tim as the teen stormed past him in the corridor. "Where you off to?" he continued, expecting his friend to tell him about a new restaurant, or club that they were all going to that night.  
  
"The brig." Was all the answer he received.  
  
Tim followed the teen, through the ship, and arrived in time to see Lucas slam the door of the brig behind him, automatically locking himself in.  
  
"Lucas," Tim asked worried, "what are you doing in there?"  
  
"Go ask the Captain." Came the reply, and with that Lucas lay on the narrow bunk, and turned his back on the door.  
  
Tim hesitated with his hand on the door, wondering weather or not to go in. Instead he reached for his pal, and hailed the Captain. He asked the Captain if he knew why Lucas in the brig, and from the Captain's answer Tim managed to peace together most of what was going on.  
  
After he had ended the transmit ion, Tim looked through the viewing panel in the door once again, it was when he saw Lucas's shoulders shaking that he decided that he had to call the others back to the seaQuest, and that the Captain had to learn the truth right away.  
  
Again he reached for his pal.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Don't you think you were just a little bit hard on him?" Kristen asked Bridger.  
  
"Probably," he admitted sinking slowly into the chair.  
  
"At least we know for sure about the baby." She said trying to find a bright side.  
  
"He didn't seem at all worried about it, don't you think that's strange?"  
  
"Teenagers are like that... nothing bothers them."  
  
"Well, I thought it was strange." She looked over towards Nathan when she heard the vid-phone dialling.  
  
"Who are you calling?"  
  
"Juliana's parents." The Captain responded grimly. "They deserve to know too."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
To be continued...  
  
That's it for the moment; Chapter 12 will be posted up here soon. All reviews, comments, and major credit cards are welcomed on the review page - just press the button at the bottom of the screen :o) 


	12. Chapter 12

Thanks to Sara, Diena, Kiddo, Dani, Shi-Nom, the Dominatrix, and anyone else who read and / or reviewed. Hope you all enjoy the next chapter :o)  
  
I don't own anything, make any money, or intentionally infringe any copyrights.  
  
I've given Juliana the last name Koskoff because, to the best of my knowledge, she was not given a surname in the shows, and Koskoff is the actress's last name. If you prefer a different name, feel free to change it in your head as your reading :o)  
  
Chapter 12.  
  
Lucas lay on the narrow bunk in the bridge and wondered if he had done the right thing, but he wasn't sure any more if there was a right thing that he could have done. He hated that Bridger and the doctor were disappointed in him, but he didn't want to let his friends down either.  
  
He wondered how long he could go without computers before he would go insane, but even more he wondered if Juliana would ever forgive him for standing her up. The way his luck was going at the moment, she would probably hate him sine die.  
  
Turning onto his back he began counting the ways it was possible to escape from the bridge, and simultaneously writing a computer programmes to make it next to impossible for any one else to do so.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
" Yes, Mr. Koskoff. I'll be sure to have a long talk with Lucas... Yes, Mr. Koskoff I'll do that too... O.K., goodbye, Mr. Koskoff."  
  
Nathan Bridger switched off the vid phone and put his hands over his eyes. "That went well." He said looking out from between his fingers to see Kristen Westphalen's sympathetic look.  
  
"What are you going to do about Lucas?"  
  
Bridger sighed, he knew he'd gone too far, but didn't know how to back down now. He regretted being so hard on Lucas as soon as the boy had left, and had only felt worse when Tim sounded so worried. "Leave him to think for an hour or two, and then go talk to him again. Maybe the brig will be a big enough shock to his system that he will open up." He couldn't hide the hope from his voice - he hoped more than anything that he hadn't ruined the relationship they were still in the process of building.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Tim didn't say anything else to you?"  
  
"No, Miguel, if he had I would have told you the last five times you asked." Ben said. "He just said we had to get back to the boat as fast as we could. They he cut me off."  
  
"Maybe he's getting revenge, because he's stuck on seaQuest when we're all on shore leave?" suggested Shan.  
  
"Or maybe Ben's making it all up, so he wont have to pay for the dinner he promised us." Crocker said.  
  
"As if I would!" Krieg protested grinning. "Don't any of you guys trust me?"  
  
"No." came the three strong chorus.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"What emergency could there possibly be when we're in dock?" Katie asked Ford as they left the restaurant and headed for their transport.  
  
"He didn't say, he just said he needed the two of us to get back on board a.s.a.p."  
  
They drove in silence, each trying to prepare them selves for any eventuality. They reached the dock just as Krieg and the others were arriving.  
  
"Tim called you too?"  
  
Ford nodded, and they all made their way onto the sub.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ford was the first to reach the bridge, and Tim quickly explained what was going on. Ford nodded in agreement. While Tim explained everything to Ben, Ford sent the others to wait in the wardroom. Between the three of them, there was soon a plan in action.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
"Lucas, Lucas you awake?" Ben hissed through the door.  
  
"No, Ben - I'm asleep - go away!"  
  
"Lucas, get up, there's a meeting in the ward room." Ben told the teen opening the door.  
  
"The captain told me to stay here." Lucas said flatly.  
  
"And now I'm telling you to go to the ward room." Ben stated.  
  
"Since when do you outrank the Captain?" Sarcasm had always kept people at a distance in the past; maybe it would work again.  
  
"Since I'll pick you up and carry you into the ward room, if you won't go by yourself."  
  
"You wouldn't." Lucas turned toward the door for the first time, looked into Krieg's eyes, sighed and said, "You would."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
The Captain was pacing around the room, trying to convince both himself and Kristen that he had done the right thing when he heard a knock at the door.  
  
When he called for the knocker to come in, he was surprised to see Ford enter.  
  
"I thought you were on leave, Commander."  
  
"There's something of a situation, Captain. We need you, and you too Doctor, to come to the ward room."  
  
"Can't you deal with it?" The Captain asked, knowing he was not in the right frame of mind to deal with 'situations'.  
  
"Sorry, Captain, but this is something we need you to be present for."  
  
"What is it?" The Doctor asked.  
  
"I think it's best if we wait until we get to the ward room..." Ford hedged.  
  
"I could order you to tell us." The Captain said, frustrated.  
  
"I realise that Captain, but I recommend you wait until we get to the ward room." Ford replied calmly.  
  
Bridger sighed. "OK Commander, lead the way."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Lucas leaned against the wall the wardroom, and worried. Something was going on, but he didn't know what, and Lucas hated not knowing what was going on. Everyone else seemed to be talking at once. Lucas leaned over towards Tim, who had just given up on trying to get Miguel to make sense, and asked the communications officer what was going on.  
  
"We're going to get everything sorted out, there's nothing to worry about."  
  
"I didn't tell the Captain anything, Tim."  
  
"We know that Lucas, no one thinks you did." Tim hoped that his words would reassure the teen, but Lucas still looked worried as he ran his hand through his hair distractedly.  
  
Everyone looked up when the door opened, and most were surprised when they saw the Captain and the Doctor follow Ford in. Bridger looked around the assembled crewmembers.  
  
"None of you have anything better to do with your shore leave, then spend it in the ward room?" he asked, before he saw Lucas, he was just about to ask what the teen was doing there, when Ben Krieg spoke up.  
  
"We wouldn't be here, but what we have to talk about is very important, Sir."  
  
Bridger sighed, "Every one sit down." It looked like they were going to be there for quite a while. "OK, Mr. Krieg, start at the beginning.  
  
"Well, it all started when Tim and Miguel over heard Katie say she's pregnant..."  
  
"What?" Katie practically screeched.  
  
"We overheard you talking to one of the engineering crew, in the mess hall." Miguel explained.  
  
"I never said I was pregnant!"  
  
"Um... yes you did, and you said that Krieg was the father, too." Tim added.  
  
"I never said I'm pregnant! I'm not pregnant!"  
  
"Yes, you are Katie." Ben said trying to be reasonable.  
  
"Ben, I should know weather or not I'm pregnant, and I'm not."  
  
"Calm down, stress isn't good for the baby." Ben admonished. "Maybe she's in denial." He muttered to Crocker.  
  
"There is no baby!" Katie shouted.  
  
"Then why did you say you were?" Miguel challenged.  
  
"I didn't say I were, was, I mean I didn't say I was!"  
  
"We heard you, you said you had to think about your career and make decisions before you told Ben..."  
  
"Oh God," Katie said sitting back down. "You heard me say that in the mess...?"  
  
Tim and Miguel nodded.  
  
"You see, so you can tell us the truth Katie."  
  
"But that's is, you're wrong, we weren't talking about me! The Lieutenant I was talking with is pregnant not me."  
  
"Your not pregnant?" Krieg said, disappointed.  
  
"No, I'm not."  
  
"I'm not going to be a Daddy?" Ben sounded as if his world had fallen down around his ears.  
  
Bridger coughed, "Is there some reason we all need to be here for this?"  
  
Ford snapped out of his daze. "Well Captain, we all thought that Katie was pregnant, and we all lost our heads a bit..."  
  
"Go on, Commander." Bridger prompted when Ford hesitated.  
  
"Well there's this doctor called Dr. Washington..." and he went on to tell the Captain about the food programme.  
  
"Why didn't you tell us any of this Lucas?" Kristen asked when Ford was finished.  
  
"I promised not to tell any one." Lucas said simply. "So I didn't."  
  
"When Tim told us Lucas was in the Brig, we decided it was time to get things out in the open.  
  
"Is there anything else you gentlemen would like to confess to?" Bridger asked, only half joking.  
  
"Well, there was the music..." Crocker said shifting uncomfortably.  
  
"Music?" Katie said, her hackles rising.  
  
"Well, the theory goes..." Crocker explained how they decided to pipe music into her room.  
  
"I thought I was going crazy!"  
  
"Well, it did seem like a good idea at the time." Ben defended himself.  
  
"What else did you do to me?" she asked.  
  
Ben looked innocent, but Ford spoke up. "We did move the stinger... and change the shifts around."  
  
"Why?" Katie asked just about holding on to her temper."  
  
"It's the safest part of the ship... and the safest shift." Ford mumbled wilting under Katie's glare. "We had your best interests at heart." He continued.  
  
Katie just humpfed, and made no further comment.  
  
"So," Captain, "Is Lucas off the hook?" Tim asked.  
  
"To some extent, although was still have a lot to talk about."  
  
"What?" Lucas asked warily.  
  
The Captain knew that Ben at least knew about Juliana's baby, so he took a gamble and said.  
  
"Juliana's baby."  
  
Lucas turned white. "Wh... Wh..." he stuttered, and tried again "What? Juliana's pregnant?"  
  
"Lucas the Captain overheard you and Ben.... you and Ben... Oh, no." Kristen said and the Captains thoughts were right behind hers.  
  
"You didn't get Juliana pregnant?"  
  
"No!"  
  
"Your sure?"  
  
"Yes! We didn't... I mean we never..." Lucas mumbled himself into silence.  
  
"But when we said we knew about the baby?" The Captain asked.  
  
"Ben's baby, not mine!"  
  
"Oh, no, Nathan I just thought!"  
  
Now Nathan turned pale.  
  
"What?" Lucas asked, looking from the doctor to the captain and back again.  
  
"We were talking to Mr. Koskoff..."  
  
"Who?" Miguel asked, no struggling to keep up.  
  
"Juliana's father... no, you didn't... Captain, you couldn't have..."  
  
The Captain nodded.  
  
"What?" Ben asked.  
  
"I told Juliana's father she's pregnant." Bridger admitted.  
  
"Why?" Crocker asked, confused.  
  
"It seemed like a good idea at the time..." Bridger echoed Ben's earlier defence.  
  
"She's going to kill me." Lucas said in something like shock.  
  
"She going to kill me for standing her up, and then she's going to take me to a doctor and have me patched up just so she can kill me all over again for this..."  
  
It was only then that Ben remembered Lucas's date, he looked at his watch, it was past nine o'clock...  
  
To be continued...  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Only two more chapters left now, I'll probably have the next one up soon. Hope everyone is enjoying it. Please review - I really like getting reviews :o) 


	13. Chapter 13

Thanks to Dominatrix, K. Presson, KatKnits00, Kiddo, Sara, Shi-Nom, and anyone else who read and / or reviewed Chapter 12 :o)  
  
As per usual, I don't own anything, make money or infringe copyrights.  
  
Again I'm using actor's names where the characters were not, to the best of my knowledge, given names in the shows. Not the best chapter ever, but here it is anyway...  
  
Chapter 13.  
  
Lucas sat in the transport in front of Juliana's aunts house and tried to steady his breathing. He was now three hours late for his date, not to mention everything else. Lucas saw the light switch on in one of the downstairs windows, and he took another deep breath.  
  
"Looks like she's still there." Observed the Captain from the front seat.  
  
Lucas nodded, his throat to dry to answer verbally.  
  
"Do you want me to go in and explain?"  
  
Lucas shook his head, only just managing not to tell the Captain that he had done enough all ready. The teen took yet another deep breath, and made his way up the drive to the house.  
  
He stood out side the front door, bolstering his courage before he pressed the doorbell, and then waited nervously for someone to answer the door. A few moments passed and then he heard footsteps. Juliana opened the door.  
  
"Hi Juliana."  
  
The door slammed shut in his face. He pushed his hand trough his hair, and wondered what he had done in a previous life to deserve so much trouble in this one. He pressed the doorbell again.  
  
Again Juliana opened the door. This time she stood in the hallway with her arms folded and just stared at him.  
  
"I can explain..."  
  
She looked unimpressed, and said nothing.  
  
"I tried to get here earlier but I couldn't..."  
  
"Why not?" she sounded clipped, and not at all sympathetic.  
  
"Because the Captain locked me in the brig..." He was cut off by the sound of the door slamming inches away from his nose. He was still standing there, trying to work out what to do next when the door opened again.  
  
Lucas ducked just in time to not be decapitated by the vase of flowers that Juliana hurled at him - she had a surprisingly good arm.  
  
"I've just spent the last hour talking to my parents about your precious Captain! How could you let him do that? My father still won't believe I'm not pregnant!"  
  
"Juliana, I can explain! If you'll just listen..."  
  
"What makes you think you have anything I want to hear ever again?" Yet again the door slammed. Lucas straightened up and squared his shoulders. He'd had enough, the whole world seemed to be conspiring against him at the moment, and he was losing his patience. Now he was determined to be heard even if he had to should his explanation through the letterbox.  
  
For the third time Lucas pressed the doorbell, ready to announce his defence before the door slammed a fourth time. The door opened...  
  
"I was in the brig, I never told anyone I got you pregnant, and I'm sorry about the Captain phoning your parents..." he trailed off as he looked up, and up further again. Juliana's brother looked back down at him, at was just that second that he remembered that he was house sitting with Juliana.  
  
"I'll just save you the trouble and throw myself out, shall I?" Lucas asked backing away down the drive. Michael Koskoff watch until Lucas got back into the transport, before closing the door and going back inside.  
  
The Captain looked over his shoulder at Lucas, but decided it would be diplomatic not to mention the vase throwing, or the shouting.  
  
"I'm guessing that was Juliana's brother." Bridger said with false cheer after he drove in silence for a few minutes.  
  
"Yep, me and Juliana's brother are old friends..." Lucas replied with a grimace.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ben was walking down the hallway towards his room, whistling happily when he rounded the corner and almost crashed into his ex-wife. He put on his best winning smile.  
  
"Hi, Katie... Um... Fancy meeting you here?"  
  
Katie had been struck almost speechless when they were in the wardroom, but now she'd had plenty of time to plan her revenge, and get Ben where he'd feel it most.  
  
"Hi, Ben, we're going to talk. Now."  
  
"I can't right now, I have to go and see Commander Ford about-"  
  
"Ben, shut up and for once in your life do what you're told, your going to do something nice for a change."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
The night after shore leave finished Ford sat next to Ben in the mess hall. All the lights were off.  
  
"This is crazy." Ben said.  
  
"You agreed to it."  
  
"Have you seen my wife when she decided on something? I didn't have any choice but to agree."  
  
"I think you got off lightly." Ford replied.  
  
"Me too." Miguel chipped in from the other side of Ford.  
  
"You two didn't exactly protest much." Tim pointed out.  
  
They sat in silence for a while.  
  
A woman slipped through the door, and counted down from ten.  
  
"10... 9... 8... 7..."  
  
They looked toward the door.  
  
"6... 5... 4..."  
  
They all stood up expectantly.  
  
"3... 2... 1..."  
  
The door opened again, letting in the light from the hallway around Lieutenant Lewis and Ensign Morrison.  
  
"Surprise!"  
  
The lights came on in the mess hall. There was a hastily constructed banner on the wall opposite the door saying "CONGRATULATIONS!" Either side of it were banners saying, "It's a boy" and "It's a girl". All the crew who were not on duty were crowded into the mess. On the mess tables all around the room were brightly wrapped packages.  
  
After every one had greeted the two startled officers, Doctor Westphalen moved away from the main group, and took a seat next to Lucas. He was watching from a little way off, but seemed deep in thought  
  
"What do you think of the party?"  
  
"I think Ben looks a little dejected." Lucas chuckled, pushing thought of Juliana and vases of flowers to the back of his mind. "He wasn't happy when Katie made him donate all the presents he bought for his baby to the baby shower."  
  
"Ensign Morrison looks a little worse for wear too." Said the Captain pulling up a third seat.  
  
"Well, he only found out that he was going to be a father a few minutes ago, and now all this..." Kristen couldn't hide her amusement. Lucas thought back to the way he, Miguel, and Tim had told Ben, and he laughed too.  
  
Katie over heard and came to join them at their table. "If I'd waited any longer Ben would have found a way to return all the presents," she offered by way of explanation. "And it did seem so perfect - when Lieutenant Lewis told me she was going to tell Ensign Morrison tonight, I couldn't resist." She sent a smug, self-satisfied smile towards Krieg.  
  
Katie was enjoying her revenge; her ex-husband hated being on the wrong end of a good deal, his wallet was where he was most vulnerable. She'd banned him from taking any credit for the presents too, and all the packages were now marked "from all your friends on the seaQuest". She turned her attention back to the others.  
  
"I was a nice gesture to donate all the gifts you bought too, Captain." Lucas said shyly, hardly believing that the Captain had bought them all for his and Juliana's baby. It was so different to the reaction his parents would have had.  
  
Luckily the Captain hadn't been able to get through to his father or his mother when he had tried to contact Lucas's parents. Lawrence had been in an important meeting, while Lucas's mother had been shopping with her society friends. Neither had answered the messages the Captain had left for them.  
  
The Captain didn't mention that he hoped this would make him feel a little tiny bit less guilty about the trouble he'd caused Lucas. I was still amazing to Bridger how quickly Lucas seemed to have forgiven him, but he still wanted to make it up somehow, although he hadn't decided how yet.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ensign Morrison stood by the aqua tube watching the patterns the water made on the ceiling. He was too far into shock all ready to jump when someone came up behind him. He didn't look behind him, but said distractedly. "I don't even have a ring, how can I propose without a ring?"  
  
"Well," said Krieg "For a very reasonable price I may be able to get you..." Maybe Krieg wouldn't be out of profit as much as he though, if he handled this deal right. Happy to be scheming again Krieg gently cajoled the young officer into buying the ring, which he himself had bought only days before to give to Katie when he proposed their re-marriage, for the original price, plus a nice percentage on top.  
  
From a few tables away Tim and Miguel watched, and wondered if Krieg would ever change, if he would ever learn his lesson, in the end they decided, he probably wouldn't.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Only one more chapter to go... Only a few lose ends left to tie up... Let me know if you want anything special to happen, no guarantee it will though, a lot depends upon my mood when I write it :o)... Chapter 14 should be posted up soon... Let me know what you think in a review... Any and all comments welcome... I've babbled enough, so bye for now :o) 


	14. Chapter 14

Thanks to K. Presson, Shi-Nom, Sara, Dani, Teresa, JULES, Kiddo, Ahn-Li Steffraini, and anyone else who read and reviewed Chapter 13.  
  
Also thanks to all those who reviewed along the way, I probably wouldn't have bothered finishing it if you hadn't.  
  
I still haven't bought ownership rights to seaQuest, so I still own nothing, make no money and intend no infringement of copyrights, but all the mistakes are still my own. (I've taken out all the one's I can find, but there may still be some.)  
  
The end of my first seaQuest fic :o)  
  
Chapter 14.  
  
The Captain wished he were Catholic. If he was Catholic he could go to confession and be forgiven for his sins, or more specifically be forgiven for phoning Juliana's parents. Lucas had forgiven him, but the Captain hadn't forgiven himself. He folded the poker hand that Krieg had dealt him in disgust, and looked at the other two men sitting across the table from him, in one of the recreation rooms.  
  
Bridger was having serious trouble keeping his mind on the regular payday poker game; no one else seemed to be having the same trouble. Ford was beginning to relax now that he knew his permanent record was out of danger. Ben was back to his own self, and determined to make back some more of his money.  
  
Crocker and Shan had taken everything in their stride, although they were on duty so couldn't make it to the game, while Tim and Miguel hadn't arrived after their shift on the bridge yet.  
  
The door opposite the Captain opened and Tim and Miguel entered, taking their leave of Lucas, who turned to go down a connecting hallway. The Captain made a split second decision.  
  
"Lucas, why don't you join us?"  
  
Lucas turned and stood in the doorway. "What happened to 'You're too young to gamble'?" He asked sceptically.  
  
"Your welcome to wait until your 21, but I think you're mature enough now." The Captain said. He'd made Lucas promise not to gamble when the teen had first come aboard, worried that some of the less scrupulous sailors would win all Lucas's money off him.  
  
Lucas blushed slightly at the compliment, but smiled and pulled up a chair.  
  
"It's no limit Texas Hold'em. You know the rules?" Bridger asked, wondering if he was doing the right thing. Krieg gave the Captain an innocent look when he received a warning look. Ben had been known to cheat at cards, but was hurt that the Captain would think he'd try to cheat a kid out of his wages.  
  
"Yep, I've played a few times." Lucas said, watching Ben deal, while reaching for his wallet, he was glad he would be betting with his wages and not his allowance. Bridger explained the rules anyway, not sure that Lucas was just saying he new them to keep face with the other men.  
  
Ben won the first hand, amid suspicious looks from the other players. "What? Can't a guy be lucky when he's dealing?"  
  
Tim won the next hand by a narrow call, gaining a good portion of Miguel's pay slip in the process. The Cuban mumbled something in Spanish. Tim laughed and Miguel blushed self consciously, having forgotten for a moment that his friend spoke the language as well as he did.  
  
Over the next hour, the Captain spent as much time watching Lucas as he did the cards. Lucas seemed to be enjoying himself, probably because he'd had a bit of beginners luck; the teen now had almost double his original pay packet on the table in front of him. Only the Captain himself had a larger pot, but he had been playing poker ever since he joined the navy, and could play on automatic pilot.  
  
"All in." The teen said, pushing his pile toward the centre of the table.  
  
Nathan Bridger sat up straighter in his chair. "Are you sure you want to do that Lucas?"  
  
The teen nodded. One by one the other players folded, until it came to the Captain. Bridger looked down at his hand, the ace of hearts, and the ace of spades. The chances of Lucas having a better hand were tiny. He looked back at up at Lucas, the teen met his gaze without blinking.  
  
The Captain weighed his options; he could either put his money in and probably clean Lucas out, adding insult to injury after phoning Juliana's parents, or he could fold, but if he folded it would be because it was Lucas was still a kid, and Lucas hated being treated like a child.  
  
Bridger tapped his fingers on the desk, it occurred to him that if he folded Lucas would never know what his hand was, so he wouldn't know he was being treated like a child, but on the other hand he, Nathan Bridger would know. The Captain took a deep breath, and pushed his money into the pot.  
  
Ford looked at the deck of cards in his hand and swallowed. It had to be close, for them both to be so confidant.  
  
Lucas turned his cards over first, a two of clubs and a four of clubs. The other's looked at each other surprised. The Captain stared at Lucas as if he'd lost his mind.  
  
"It's not to late to change your mind Lucas." Ford said.  
  
Lucas raised an eyebrow, showing he knew perfectly well that it was too late, and that he didn't want special treatment.  
  
The Captain covered his eyes, not wanting to see Lucas's face when he turned his own cards over.  
  
Miguel gasped as he saw the Captain's cards. "Why couldn't I have luck like that?" he murmured, grunting when Tim elbowed him in the ribs. All eyes turned to Ford, except the Captain who opened his eyes to focus on Lucas's reaction now that he figured the worse maybe over, the Commander slowly turned the top card of the deck over.  
  
"The Ace of Diamonds." The Captain almost groaned out loud.  
  
"The Ace of Clubs." Bridger couldn't never before remember praying he'd lose a poker hand.  
  
Ford looked a Lucas, but the teen was drinking his coke, seemingly not in the least bit worried.  
  
"The Seven of Hearts." Bridger covered his eyes again.  
  
"The Five of Clubs." Bridger froze for a moment, took his hand away from his eyes, he looked at the cards on the table and then at Lucas. What were the chances?  
  
Ford licked his lips nervously, and turned over the last card.  
  
"The Three of Clubs..." Now they were all staring at Lucas, who put down his coke, and calmly started counting his winnings.  
  
The Captain opened and closed his mouth, but no sound came out. "You knew...?" he said.  
  
Lucas looked up from his counting. "Of course." He said smiling.  
  
"But... How?" Ben asked.  
  
"Do you remember that computer game I showed you when I came back from node three?" They all nodded.  
  
"In that game, you need to be able to keep track of a 144 bit sequence. So, after that, a 52 bit sequence is easy." The teen shrugged, and went back to counting.  
  
"You counted cards? You cheated?" Ford said shocked.  
  
"It's not cheating if you count them in your head, only if you use something else to keep count." Lucas said, cheerfully.  
  
The Captain looked at what was left of his own money all 18 credits, and then at the money in front of Lucas, trying to figure out what had just happened.  
  
Tim made a show of looking at his watch. "Oh, look at the time, we'd better be going." and sheperded the others out of the door.  
  
After they'd left, Lucas got up and walked towards the door as well. Before he left, he looked back towards the Captain who hadn't moved.  
  
"Captain?" Bridger looked up at Lucas, and the teen continued. "Do you feel less guilty now?" Lucas smiled at the Captain and then closed the door to the recreation room behind him when he left. Nathan Bridger sat in the empty room and threw back his head and laughed at himself.  
  
He'd got rid of most of his guilt, and been reminded not to underestimate the usefulness of computer games, and it had only cost him most of his salary and a little bit of his pride.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Ben was waiting outside for Lucas, but drifted away to his storeroom when Lucas refused to teach him how to count cards for the sixth time.  
  
Lucas went into his room and logged on to the inter-nex to tell Wolf-man about the card game.  
  
"Hey, Wolf-man, You there?"  
  
The little cartoon for wolf-man popped up, but didn't say anything.  
  
"Wolf-man?"  
  
He didn't get an answer, but the icon showing he had e-mail popped up. Lucas clicked on it and opened the e-mail.  
  
"Frankie,  
  
Juliana told us what happened, that was so evil.  
  
You need to apologise, and find some way to make it up to her.  
  
Don't expect me to talk to you until you do.  
  
Wolf-man."  
  
Lucas flicked back onto the cartoons. "Wolf-man, I've tried to explain to Juliana, it wasn't my fault!"  
  
No response.  
  
"Don't you think this is just a bit childish, taking sides like this?"  
  
The Wolf-man cartoon left the screen.  
  
Lucas tried to get hold of Biff, but got much the same response there, a message saying that Biff was siding with Wolf-man.  
  
Lucas turned the screen off in disgust. "That went well, he said to the empty room." He went off to talk to the only person on the boat who always understood him.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Katie was on her way to the moon pool to apologise to Darwin for accusing him of stalking her. She stopped in the doorway, when she heard a voice inside. About to turn away and come back later, she stopped. It seemed that she was the only one of the boat who hadn't been eves dropping lately so, feeling mitigated, she stopped to listen.  
  
"Lucas sad?" she heard the dolphin asked.  
  
"Kind of." Lucas replied.  
  
"Why Lucas sad?"  
  
"Biff's not talking to me."  
  
"Why Biff not talk?"  
  
"Because Wolf-man's not talking to me."  
  
"Why Wolf-man not talk?"  
  
"Because Juliana's not talking to me."  
  
Darwin seemed to think for a moment, then said, "Human people strange, dolphin people make more sense."  
  
Lucas laughed, "You're probably right fish face. Juliana's just really mad at me."  
  
"Why?"  
  
"It's a long story, Darwin. You want to play catch?" Darwin whistled happily, Lucas wished everyone were so easy to please.  
  
Katie turned made her way towards her quarters, leaving her conversation with Darwin for another day, thinking that Lucas had come out worse from the whole fiasco. She sat down in front of the vid-phone and, having found the number for Juliana's aunts in the on-line directory, waited for it to connect.  
  
When the screen showed a teenage girl Katie Hitchcock began.  
  
"Juliana, don't hang up. I'm not going to try to explain everything that's been going on here; it would take forever. But I'm going to give you some advice..."  
  
Juliana sat by the vid-phone and looked at the young female officer on the screen, and for some reason she found herself saying, "OK, I'm listening."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Lucas walked back to Mammal Engineering and wondered what to do now. Darwin was out feeding, he didn't feel like working, and he'd already got maximum scores on all the computer games he had onboard. He was just lying on his bunk staring into space, and rapidly getting board, when the vid-phone sounded.  
  
Flicking on the screen he almost feel off the bunk in surprise when he saw Juliana looking back at him.  
  
"Hi, Lucas, I'm ready to hear that explanation now..."  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
The End.  
  
***** ***** *****  
  
Well, my first seaQuest fic is now finished :o) Hope everyone enjoyed it.  
  
I'm going to start another story soon, although the updates may be a little less regular since I'm working on a couple of other things at the moment as well, including a degree.  
  
All reviews, comments and major credit cards are welcomed on the review page, just press the button at the bottom of the page and an operator will be with you momentarily ;o) 


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